Senate Committee Reviews Bill to Add Taxes, Benefits to Official Poverty Measurements
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Introduced in Senate
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Senator John Kennedy argues that current Census poverty metrics are misleading because they exclude non-cash benefits like food stamps and Medicaid. He introduced the Poverty Statistics Enhancement Act to require a new measure using CBO methodology to show a more accurate picture of need.
Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) questioned Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on why the Census Bureau excludes non-cash federal benefits from poverty calculations, suggesting that including them would show a poverty rate of 1% instead of 11%, a core argument for his new legislation.
During a Senate hearing, Senator John Kennedy clashed with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over the accuracy of federal poverty data, advocating for a new metric that accounts for the full value of government assistance programs like SNAP and Medicaid to better reflect household resources.
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Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
Poverty Statistics Enhancement Act
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