Improving Federal Assistance to Families Act

This bill requires the Census Bureau to create a new way to measure poverty that accounts for different costs of living in each state. Currently, the same poverty line is used nationwide, but this bill would create a "Regionally Adjusted Poverty Line" that considers how expensive things are in each state compared to the national average. The Department of Health and Human Services would then use whichever poverty measure results in more households being classified as poor in each state to determine who qualifies for federal assistance programs. The bill also requires a government study of an alternative poverty measure that includes costs like housing, childcare, taxes, and transportation.

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