Congresswoman Sylvia R. Garcia (TX-29) Sends Letter to the Office of Management and Budget Director Opposing Changes to the Official Poverty Calculation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, Vice Chair on Urban Poverty for the Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity and other members of the Task Force sent a letter to Acting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought urging him not to implement the recently announced changes to the federal poverty calculations. In the letter, the Members wrote:

"The ramifications of the proposal to lower the poverty threshold are widespread, but the process laid out by this Administration to consider such a monumental change is deeply flawed and inadequate. If there were to be changes to the Census poverty thresholds, the administration should consider more robust research that would explore all of the issues – including all of the ways that the current poverty thresholds understate the income needed for families to afford the basics, and the evidence that low-income households can face higher rates of inflation than the economy overall– and far more input from experts, policymakers, and the public than allowed for by a paltry 45-day comment window provided in the May 7th notice."

Congresswoman Garcia was joined by Majority Leader Hoyer (MD-5), Chair Barbara Lee (CA-13), Rep. TJ Cox (CA-21), Vice Chair on Rural Poverty; Rep. Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Vice Chair on Urban Poverty; Rep. Deb Haaland (NM-01), Vice Chair on Families and Children Living in Poverty; Rep. Ben McAdams (UT-04), Vice Chair on Economic Opportunity, Education, and Workforce Development; and Rep. Joe Neguse (CO-02), Vice Chair on Housing and Transportation.

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Congresswoman Sylvia R. Garcia was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2018, becoming the first Latina ever to represent Texas 29th Congressional district.