Improving Federal Assistance to Families Act

This bill would update how the federal poverty line is measured so it better matches the cost of living in each state. The Census Bureau would create a Regionally Adjusted Poverty Line every year for each state, based on differences in state prices compared to the national average, and use it to calculate who is below the poverty line in that state . Each year, Health and Human Services would choose, for each state, whichever measure—the new regional one or the current one—shows a higher share of people in poverty, and use that for administrative purposes like deciding who qualifies for certain federal programs. For Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, states that did not expand Medicaid could use either measure to avoid people losing access to those credits.

The bill also calls for a federal study of the ALICE measure, which looks at what working households need to cover basics like housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, and taxes, and how it could be used in federal programs.

• Who is affected: Low-income households; all states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and U.S. territories; and federal agencies like the Census Bureau and Health and Human Services.
• What changes: A new, state-by-state poverty line based on regional prices; the government uses whichever poverty measure counts more people in poverty in that state for program decisions; special flexibility for ACA premium tax credits in non‑expansion states .
• When: The new index starts 1 year after enactment; its use for program eligibility starts 3 years after enactment; the ALICE study report is due within 2 years of enactment.