Skip to main content
H.R. 702 119th Congress House

Improving Federal Assistance to Families Act

Official title: To modify the measure and use of the poverty line issued by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to more accurately account for the basic needs of families and regional costs of living.

Introduced: January 23, 2025 Introduced by: Mikie Sherrill Democrat · New Jersey See on congress.gov
Social Welfare Census and government statisticsEconomic developmentGovernment information and archivesGovernment studies and investigations
More subjectsShow fewer subjects
Inflation and pricesPoverty and welfare assistanceState and local government operations
Sign in to write a letter Sign in to watch
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Jan 23, 2025
Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Jan 23, 2025
Introduced in House
 Ask about this bill AI · grounded in the bill text

Have a question about what this bill does? Ask in plain English; the answer is drawn from the bill's actual text and official record, and it'll tell you when something isn't in the text rather than guess.

AI answers can be imperfect; always confirm against the full bill text.

What's happening now January 23, 2025

Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Improving Federal Assistance to Families Act

This bill directs the Bureau of the Census to develop and publish a new regional poverty line index for each state, and requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to use the new index to determine eligibility for federal programs in certain circumstances. 

Specifically, the bureau must develop and publish a new poverty line index, to be known as the Regionally Adjusted Poverty Line, that is measured separately for each state on an annual basis. The Regionally Adjusted Poverty Line must use new poverty thresholds calculated based on the most recent poverty thresholds and each state’s most recent regional price parity. (Poverty thresholds are specified dollar amounts used by the bureau to determine a household’s poverty status. Regional price parities are measurements of the differences in price levels between states and the national average, and are published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.)  

For each state, HHS must determine annually which poverty line index—the Regionally Adjusted Poverty Line or the current poverty line—results in a greater percentage of households falling below the poverty line. HHS must generally use the identified poverty line index for administrative purposes applicable to each state, including to determine residents’ financial eligibility for certain federal programs. 
 
Finally, the Government Accountability Office must study and report to Congress on the Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed threshold, an alternate poverty measure that includes consideration of regional costs of necessities like housing, child care, taxes, and transportation. 

 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 2
 Lobbying activity 5

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 702: Improving Federal Assistance to Families Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-702/
MLA
"H.R. 702: Improving Federal Assistance to Families Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-702/.
Bluebook (legal)
H.R. 702, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-702/.
Markdown link
[H.R. 702: Improving Federal Assistance to Families Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-702/)
Report a problem