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United States · Bill · S

S. 1625 (111th)

Measuring American Poverty Act of 2009

referredUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

6 August 2009

Last action

6 August 2009 · Introduced

Status

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Sponsors

Sen. Dodd, Christopher J. [D-CT], Sen. Bingaman, Jeff [D-NM]

Subjects

Healthcare

Source updated

5 December 2025

Healthcare

Summary

Measuring American Poverty Act of 2009 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau), in collaboration with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), to calculate modern poverty thresholds and modern poverty rates for each calendar year. Directs the Census Bureau and the BLS to choose: (1) the most appropriate distribution of consumption expenditures on food, clothing, and shelter, which may exclude families receiving subsidies for food, clothing, or shelter; and (2) the reference family for the modern poverty measure. Declares that the modern poverty threshold for a reference family shall be an amount equal to the average of 120% of the 33rd percentile of the distribution chosen, allowing for calculations to rely on a limited band converging on this percentile, during four or more of the most recent years for which data is available from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, a superior federal government source of data, or some combination of such sources. Prescribes requirements for determining modern poverty rates. Directs the Census Bureau, in collaboration with the BLS, to contract with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to develop and publish methods of: (1) calculating a decent living standard threshold; and (2) measuring the extent to which the income of families in the United States is sufficient to meet it. Directs the Census Bureau, in collaboration with the BLS, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to contract with NAS to develop and publish a method of: (1) measuring the extent of medical care risk in the United States; and (2) calculating the number and percentage of individuals in the United States who lack adequate health insurance, leaving them at risk of being unable to afford needed treatment. Directs the Census Bureau to contract with NAS to develop a set of recommendations for methods to implement annual modern poverty measurement at the state and local level and a timeframe for the implementation.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

  1. 6 August 2009

    Introduced

    Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

    Source: IntroReferral

  2. 6 August 2009

    Introduced

    Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S9022-9023)

    Source: IntroReferral

  3. 6 August 2009

    Introduced

    Introduced in Senate

    Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

Documents

3 official files

Introduced in Senate (text)

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  • Introduced in Senate (text)

    Introduced in Senate · EN · 6 August 2009

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

  • Introduced in Senate (PDF)

    Introduced in Senate · EN · 6 August 2009

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

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  • Introduced in Senate

    summary · EN · 6 August 2009

    Open at official source

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Sponsors

Related records

Sources

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