[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 551 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 551
Fully addressing child poverty.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 23, 2023
Ms. Lee of California (for herself, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Wilson of Florida,
Ms. Schakowsky, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Thompson of
Mississippi, Mr. McGarvey, Ms. Budzinski, Ms. Norton, Mr. Sablan, Ms.
Clarke of New York, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Evans, Mr. Payne, Ms.
Bonamici, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Brownley, and Ms.
Tlaib) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Oversight and Accountability
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Fully addressing child poverty.
Whereas there were over 3,800,000 children living in poverty in the United
States in 2021, the lowest child poverty rate on record and a 46-percent
reduction from 2020;
Whereas for the first time on record, children in 2021 experienced a lower rate
of poverty than adults;
Whereas improvements to the Child Tax Credit passed in the American Rescue Plan
Act were largely responsible for the record decline in child poverty in
2021, with the expansions lifting over 2,000,000 children over the
poverty threshold and the full Child Tax Credit lifting nearly
3,000,000;
Whereas the expiration of improvements to the Child Tax Credit already has
pushed 4,000,000 children back into poverty in January 2022, and caused
a 12-percent increase in food insecurity;
Whereas the United States must continue to work to ensure that all eligible
families are able to receive the Child Tax Credit that they are owed,
including non filer families, immigrant families, and families in Puerto
Rico;
Whereas, according to analysis from First Focus on Children, the share of
Federal spending on children temporarily increased in 2021 and 2022 due
to an influx of pandemic assistance, yet it is likely to see a decrease
in the share of Federal spending on children in 2023;
Whereas Black, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian and Alaska Native children
experienced record low-poverty rates in 2021, but still experience
significantly higher rates of poverty than their White peers and the
injustice of poverty is deeply entwined with the injustice of systemic
racism;
Whereas 1.4 percent of children in the United States (over 1 million) were still
living in deep poverty in 2021, in households with incomes less than 50
percent of Federal poverty thresholds and who face severe deprivation;
Whereas the Federal poverty thresholds underestimate poverty in the United
States, and families with children with incomes well above Federal
poverty thresholds continue to experience material hardship and the
inability to afford basic needs;
Whereas young children under the age of 3 have the highest rates of poverty,
experiencing significant hardship while undergoing critical stages of
brain development;
Whereas the United States continues to have a significantly higher rate of child
poverty compared to other wealthy nations because the Nation fails to
sufficiently invest in children;
Whereas children in immigrant families experience higher rates of poverty than
children in nonimmigrant families because they face barriers to
accessing antipoverty programs, and increasing both their eligibility
and access to benefits would have a significant impact in reducing child
poverty;
Whereas children living in Puerto Rico and the other United States territories
experience poverty at higher rates than children in the 50 States and
District of Columbia because they lack equal access to Federal benefits
as part of a long history of racism and discrimination against people
living in the territories;
Whereas poverty is linked to material hardship, resulting in children in poverty
experiencing hunger and food insecurity, a lack of access to health
care, unsafe and unstable shelter, and a lack of other basic needs which
lead to children in poverty often having worse physical and mental
health, educational, and other outcomes than their wealthier peers;
Whereas children living in poverty and Black and Hispanic children experience
higher rates of asthma and lead poisoning compared to their peers due to
living in substandard housing and neighborhood conditions that are a
product of an environmental legacy of structural racism;
Whereas the National Academy of Sciences finds that when households with
children receive cash transfers, parents and caretakers spend it on
resources that support their children's healthy development, leading to
improved physical and behavioral health and educational outcomes for
their children and leading these children to earn more as adults;
Whereas, as the United States high rate of child poverty has negative
implications for not only the outcomes of individual children living in
poverty, but also for society as a whole, costing the United States
upward of $1 trillion a year due to lost economic output, increased
health care costs, and more;
Whereas the outbreak of COVID-19 and its economic fallout has had a
disproportionately negative impact for the economic security of
households with children, especially for households of color and those
that were already struggling before the pandemic;
Whereas too often children unjustly come in contact with the child welfare
system due to a lack of household sufficient economic supports and youth
who age out of the foster care system experience higher levels of
poverty, criminal justice involvement, and homelessness than their
peers;
Whereas households with children with disabilities and special health care needs
are more prone to economic hardship, as the yearly average cost of
caring for a child with disabilities ranges from around $6,000 to
$20,000;
Whereas poverty is inextricably linked to homelessness, with over 1,000,000
students experiencing homelessness in the 2020-2021 school year, yet
these issues are often addressed in separate policy silos;
Whereas the United States invests fewer public dollars in early childhood
education and care than almost all other developed nations;
Whereas social spending on children has a bigger return on investment for
society than social spending for other ages yet the United States
continues to underinvest in children; and
Whereas only 21 out of 100 families with children in poverty receive benefits
through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, only
1 in 4 eligible families receive Federal housing assistance, only 10
percent of income-eligible infants and toddlers can access early Head
Start, only 25 percent of eligible 3- to 5-year-olds can access Head
Start, and even with recent increases to Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, food insecurity remains high for
households with children: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) desires that no child should experience poverty in the
United States and supports the establishment of a national
child poverty reduction target to build the political will
needed to make the investments and policy changes that will end
child poverty;
(2) recognizes that every child deserves access to
nutritious meals, safe and stable housing, appropriate
pediatric health care, clean air and drinking water, and other
necessities, and children should not be denied resources
because of the color of their skin, their household's economic
status or zip code, their health care status, their gender
identity and sexual orientation, or their immigration status;
(3) supports making the improvements made in 2021 to the
Child Tax Credit permanent, which significantly reduced child
poverty and narrowed the poverty gap for Black, Hispanic, and
American Indian/Alaska Native children;
(4) encourages the establishment of a permanent interagency
coordinating council to improve domestic and international
policymaking for children housed in the Office of the
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary;
(5) recognizes that the United States underinvests in
children and support making additional Federal investments for
children, increasing the share of Federal spending on children,
and addressing the budgetary structural disadvantages facing
children's programs;
(6) supports access for all children to high-quality,
affordable, and accessible learning opportunities, including
mixed deliver, within child care, pre-K, Head Start, and Early
Head Start in order to benefit children, their families, the
early childhood workforce, and the economy;
(7) guarantees accessible, diverse, safe, high-quality,
equitable public education and accessible education
infrastructure from pre-K-12 for all children, and protects and
expands public resources for students with disabilities; and
(8) encourages States, territories, and localities to enact
policies that follow the direction provided by this resolution.
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