Too many people can’t afford to pay for their groceries, housing, child care, and health needs on their own. That’s what we mean when we say people are living in poverty. And to measure how many people are struggling, the government determines a poverty line. Setting this line is extremely important because it allows for research to show the extent of poverty and leads to standards used to determine who gets benefits like food assistance, housing vouchers, health benefits, and more.

Right now, the Trump administration is trying to change the way poverty is measured so fewer people are counted. They’re accepting comments on some of these proposed changes until April 14, 2020, 11:59 p.m. ET.

The administration claims there really aren’t as many people living in poverty as we think; we’re just measuring poverty wrong. But we know that’s not true: Gains in the economy are disproportionately going to the rich while the poor continue to struggle to make ends meet. In fact, research and public opinion alike show that the poverty measurement we’ve got now is not counting enough people as living in poverty. For example, research by the Urban Institute found that more than 60 percent of non-elderly adults with incomes up to twice the poverty line reported difficulties paying for food, utilities, rent, or medical bills.

The deadline for submitting comments is 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, April 14, 2020. While we urge the OMB to extend the deadline for comments until 30 days after the COVID-19 crisis has ended, we also urge organizations and individuals to submit a comment before the current deadline. Below, find a list of resources to take action, statements by other organizations, and other background information.

Background information for writing comments

• From regulations.gov: Request for Comment on Considerations for Additional Measures of Poverty
• Christopher Wimer and Jane Waldfogel, Columbia University: Comment re Docket Number OMB-2019-0007
• Coalition on Human Needs: Comments on Considerations for Additional Measures of Poverty 
• National Women’s Law Center: Sign on Letter Requesting OMB Extend Poverty Comment Period
• First Focus Campaign for Children and Children’s Defense Fund: Child Focused Poverty Measure Comment Template

• We’re in a pandemic – they should have extended the deadline.  They haven’t so far, but they should accept comments through at least 30 days after the end of the state of emergency.  OMB should reject further outreach that is not very inclusive, both of expert researchers, people who have experienced poverty, service providers and community-based organizations.
• There is a lot of evidence that the current official poverty measure understates the extent of poverty.  Alternative measures that will understate it even more (or shrink the inflation rate the measure is annually adjusted for) will make it far less accurate.
• While the current official measure does not fully count either income or expenditures, research into adding more sources of income or expense needs to be carefully done.  One key example:  treating health insurance as an income source would hugely increase a family’s income total, but it would be quite misleading to suggest that the family has more income to pay for rent, heat, food, or clothes because they have health insurance.
• Measuring poverty is extremely important:  telling the truth about hardship can lead to better policy solutions; inaccuracies may over time lead to restrictions on eligibility that will hurt people, adults and children alike.

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