[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 67 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 67
Expressing the moral responsibility of the Congress to end adult and
child poverty in the United States.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 28, 2021
Ms. Lee of California (for herself, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Garcia
of Illinois, Mr. Lowenthal, Mrs. Beatty, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mrs.
Watson Coleman, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. Rush, Mr. Khanna, Ms.
Schakowsky, Ms. Norton, Ms. Sewell, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr.
McGovern, Mr. Deutch, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Sablan,
and Ms. Kaptur) submitted the following resolution; which was referred
to the Committee on Oversight and Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the moral responsibility of the Congress to end adult and
child poverty in the United States.
Whereas poverty is an immoral and economic stain on our Nation and needs to be
addressed;
Whereas the poverty rate in the United States, the wealthiest nation in the
world, continues to rank among the highest when compared to other
developed nations;
Whereas according to the ``Poor People's Moral Budget: Everybody Has the Right
to Live'', 140,000,000 Americans are poor or one emergency away from
being poor;
Whereas, in 2019, 34,000,000 people including nearly 11,000,000 children were
living in poverty based on the Official Poverty Measure (OPM);
Whereas 1 in 7 children live in poverty and more than 4,500,000 of these
children lived in extreme poverty, at less than half the poverty level,
and nearly 3 in 4 poor children were children of color;
Whereas child poverty creates gaps in cognitive skills for very young children,
puts children at greater risk of hunger and homelessness, jeopardizes
their health and ability to learn, and fuels the intergenerational cycle
of poverty;
Whereas communities of color face disproportionate rates of poverty and
inequality;
Whereas approximately 8,900,000 Black, 10,500,000 Latinx, 2,000,000 Asian, and
2,100,000 Native and Indigenous people live in poverty in the United
States;
Whereas more than 1 in 4 Black children and more than 1 in 5 Hispanic and
American Indian/Alaska Native children were poor compared with 1 in 12
White children;
Whereas income inequality is the worst it has been in five decades;
Whereas more than 19,000,000 women lived in poverty in 2019, with women of
color, women with disabilities, and older women facing higher rates of
poverty than women overall;
Whereas the top 10 percent of United States households own 70 percent of the
country's total wealth and those in the bottom 50 percent saw no
increase in their wealth over the past 30 years;
Whereas, in 2019, 35,200,000 people, including 10,700,000 children, were deemed
food insecure, including the 11,900,000 people living in 5,300,000
households defined by the Department of Agriculture as very food
insecure, a number virtually unchanged since 2018;
Whereas if COVID-19 incidences continue as projected through this year and next,
the number of people experiencing food insecurity in 2020 would increase
by over 17,000,000, including nearly 7,000,000 children, which means
54,000,000 people (1 in 6) would experience food insecurity in 2020,
including 18,000,000 children (1 in 4);
Whereas the Federal minimum wage has not changed from $7.25 per hour since 2009,
and Federal law has allowed employers to pay tipped workers just $2.13
per hour since 1991;
Whereas the value of the minimum wage has declined in real terms by more than 30
percent since 1968;
Whereas the Official Poverty Measure (OPM) has been adjusted only for inflation
since 1963 and does not adequately capture sufficient needs for families
to cover food, housing, utilities, and childcare expenses;
Whereas 62,000,000 workers in the United States work for less than a living
wage;
Whereas over 200,000 people with disabilities work for a subminimum wage;
Whereas the United States does not require a national minimum paid sick time
standard, and therefore working adults without paid sick leave are three
times more likely to have incomes below the poverty line;
Whereas fewer than 40 percent of American working adults have access to paid
medical leave to address a serious illness or injury through employer-
provided short-term disability insurance, and fewer than 60 percent are
eligible to take unpaid FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act), leaving
millions of workers and families just 1 accident or illness away from
economic devastation;
Whereas approximately 5,200,000 workers are working in involuntary part-time
jobs when they would prefer full-time jobs;
Whereas millions of people working in hourly jobs have unstable, unpredictable
work schedules that do not give them the notice and input they need to
plan their lives and care for their families;
Whereas ``fissuring'' of the workplace, has resulted in more subcontracted,
temporary, and 1099 positions that lack benefits and workplace
protections, leading to greater economic precarity for low-wage workers;
Whereas according to the 2019 Federal Reserve report on the economic well-being
of United States households, 4 in 10 Americans say they are not able to
cover an unexpected expense of $400;
Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic may exacerbate poverty, especially for children,
and has exposed the shortcomings of the United States economic system
and social safety net;
Whereas if adequate measures are not taken to help Americans during the COVID-19
pandemic, the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University
projects that 21,000,000 more individuals will be in poverty, the
highest recorded rate of poverty since 1967;
Whereas according to the same Columbia University report, child poverty could
rise by 53 percent with Black and Latino children bearing a
disproportionate risk of falling into or deeper into poverty;
Whereas, as of May 21, 2020, 38,600,000 Americans have filed for unemployment
since mid-March because businesses have shut down or reduced their
payroll in response to the COVID-19 pandemic;
Whereas economic distress faced during the COVID-19 pandemic will
disproportionately impact children, women, working-class people, LGBTQ+
communities, and Black and Brown communities;
Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to drastically increase poverty for
children and families;
Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting children's daily lives and there are
likely to be long-term and negative consequences for child development
and future success;
Whereas low-income children and families are often the targets of discrimination
based on their socioeconomic status as well as other social indicators
such as race or ethnicity, immigration status, ability, sex, sexual
orientation, and gender identity;
Whereas low-income families pay nearly 35 percent of their income on childcare
compared to middle-class families who pay roughly 14 percent of their
income on childcare;
Whereas poverty has lasting effects on a child's neural and functional brain
development and mental health;
Whereas poverty exacerbates the student achievement rate and schools remain
economically segregated;
Whereas child poverty costs the United States between $800,000,000,000 and
$1,100,000,000,000 annually;
Whereas protecting children against the lifelong consequences of poverty will
improve their life and reduce child poverty in future generations;
Whereas poverty exacerbates the student achievement rate and many schools remain
economically and racially segregated;
Whereas school districts with high poverty rates often receive the least amount
of funding;
Whereas the number of students experiencing poverty and homelessness has
increased by 11 percent;
Whereas LGBTQ+ students face poverty and homelessness because they are forced to
leave their homes because of their sexual orientation or gender
identity;
Whereas according to the Department of Education, 1,500,000 school-aged children
experienced homelessness during the 2017-2018 school year;
Whereas many low-income children and families do not receive the full value of
the current Child Tax Credit (CTC) as it leaves behind 23,000,000
children, including 50 percent of Black and Latino Children;
Whereas to reduce child poverty long term, children also need access to
affordable, comprehensive physical and behavioral health care, stable
shelter, consistent and nutritious meals, affordable high-quality early
development and learning opportunities, high performing schools and
colleges, and families and neighborhoods free from violence;
Whereas 29 percent of Americans skipped refilling their prescriptions because of
high costs, and 26 percent struggled to pay medical bills;
Whereas more than 500,000 people experience poverty and homelessness on any
given night, a number which has increased over the past 2 years;
Whereas the criminal-legal system contributes to a cycle of poverty by issuing
court-imposed fines and fees and threatening imprisonment for minor
infractions and civil violations;
Whereas according to the Prison Policy Initiative, families spend almost
$2,900,000,000 on exorbitant commissary costs and phone calls to support
their incarcerated loved ones;
Whereas formerly incarcerated people face barriers to employment, housing, and
social support programs after release and access to higher education,
adult education, and workforce development training opportunities after
release;
Whereas nearly 1 in 2 United States children have at least 1 parent with a
criminal record, and the barriers associated with a parent's record can
stunt a child's cognitive development, school performance, and
educational attainment;
Whereas children in immigrant families make up one-quarter of all children in
the United States, and are more likely to face systemic barriers to
accessing economic and nutrition supports that can aid their health and
development with data from the nationally representative Well-Being and
Basic Needs Survey (WBNS) showing that over 3 in 10 adults in low-income
immigrant families with children (31.5 percent) reported that they or a
family member were chilled from using benefits like SNAP, Medicaid, the
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or housing subsidies in 2019;
Whereas globally, people living in areas with high concentrations of poverty
will be disproportionately impacted by climate change;
Whereas voter suppression and lack of access to voting, including early voting
or alternative methods, leads to a disproportionate underrepresentation
of low-income people;
Whereas the United States should redistribute wealth and Federal assistance to
reduce poverty and increase economic opportunity;
Whereas an investment of $24,400,000,000 per year in K-12 schools and teachers
could start to boost academic performance among poor and struggling
children for about the same cost as a wall at the southern border of the
United States;
Whereas for every $1 invested in early childhood education, society would gain
$7.30 due to reduced poverty, lower incarceration rates, and better
health outcomes;
Whereas addressing climate change with a $200,000,000,000 per year investment in
a clean energy transition would reduce poverty by creating 2,700,000 new
jobs;
Whereas raising income tax rates by 1 percent in the top 2 income brackets would
raise about $125,000,000,000 over 10 years that can be used in
assistance for people living in poverty;
Whereas ending mass incarceration and instead adopting a Justice Reinvestment
model could save up to $4,000,000,000 that can be used to invest in
people living in poverty; and
Whereas simple trade-offs in our budget could fund critical, equitable policy
changes towards establishing a moral economy: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) acknowledges that budgets are moral documents that
reflect our values as a Nation;
(2) acknowledges that child poverty robs our Nation of a
child's full potential and prevents millions of children from
reaching healthy development and an economically secure future;
(3) supports passing policy provisions to reduce adult and
child poverty, racial disparities, income and wealth
inequality, and increase of opportunity for all;
(4) supports policies to help reduce child poverty by
increasing wages for working families, improving tax credits to
ensure more low-income children and families benefit, boosting
nutrition and housing assistance, expanding subsidized jobs
with special attention to the needs of young adults
disconnected from school and work, and providing access to
quality, reliable childcare;
(5) encourages the Federal Government, States, and cities
to enact robust antipoverty policies and to create new,
innovative solutions to eliminate poverty;
(6) acknowledges that too few resources have been allocated
by the Federal Government to help end poverty for children and
families;
(7) acknowledges that poverty was created and sustained by
humans, including policymakers, and that we can choose to end
it;
(8) affirms that ending poverty, especially for our
Nation's children, is a moral and economic imperative;
(9) affirms immigration status is not a means to deny basic
need programs;
(10) supports increased funding for, as well as broadened
inclusivity and strengthening of basic need programs like the
supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP), temporary
assistance for needy families (TANF), the Child Tax Credit, the
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and housing assistance
especially during the COVID-19 pandemic;
(11) supports comprehensive health care that should be
available and affordable to everyone in the United States
during the COVID-19 pandemic;
(12) supports the strengthening of robust unemployment
insurance and paid leave policies to protect workers,
especially during the COVID-19 pandemic;
(13) reaffirms that a criminal record is no longer a life
sentence to poverty for tens of millions of justice-involved
individuals and their families, and supports automatically
clearing criminal records once a person has completed the
sentence imposed; and
(14) accepts climate change as an accelerator towards
poverty and a threat to shared prosperity that demands
investment in a clean energy transition to help create jobs.
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