119-hr2949

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2949 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 2949

To establish a national task force to expand opportunities and improve 
 the standard of living for working families in America.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 April 17, 2025

Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Whitesides, Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. 
 Suozzi, Ms. Norton, Mr. Mullin, Mr. Deluzio, and Mr. Garcia of 
 California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and Workforce, and in addition to the Committees 
 on Financial Services, Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, 
Transportation and Infrastructure, Oversight and Government Reform, and 
Agriculture, 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

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To establish a national task force to expand opportunities and improve 
 the standard of living for working families in America.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Working Families Task Force Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE.

    (a) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the 
Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Education, Housing and Urban 
Development, Commerce, Treasury, Transportation, and Agriculture and 
the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, shall establish 
an Interagency National Task Force on Working Families. The task force 
shall be titled the ``Working Families Task Force'' and for purposes of 
this Act be referred to as the ``Task Force''.

    (b) Membership.--The Task Force shall be composed of not fewer than 
10 members and shall include representatives designated by the relevant 
Secretaries from each of the following Federal agencies:

    (1) The Department of Labor.

    (2) The Department of Health and Human Services.

    (3) The Department of Education.

    (4) The Department of Housing and Urban Development.

    (5) The Department of Commerce.

    (6) The Department of Treasury.

    (7) The Department of Transportation.

    (8) The Department of Agriculture.

    (9) The Small Business Administration.
            (c) Meetings.--

    (1) In general.--The Task Force shall meet not less than 1 
 time per quarter per calendar year.

    (2) Quorum.--Two-thirds of the members of the Task Force 
 shall constitute a quorum.
            (d) === Purpose ===
-The purpose of the Task Force shall be to--

    (1) examine the challenges facing working families; and

    (2) develop recommendations to improve the standard of 
 living and quality of life for working families.

    (e) Duties.--The duties of the Task Force shall include the 
following:

    (1) Identifying and evaluating key factors that impact the 
 standard of living for working families, including--
        (A) addressing affordability challenges related to 
 various economic conditions, including inflation;
        (B) reducing barriers to economic mobility;
            (C) improving access to quality jobs with livable 
 wages and strong labor standards;
            (D) expanding affordable child care for all 
 families;
        (E) improving incentives, including tax policies 
 such as the child tax credit, child and dependent care 
 tax credit, and earned income tax credit, that assist 
 children and families;
        (F) supporting home care and medical care for 
 seniors and families that need assistance;
        (G) mitigating barriers to more affordable and 
 higher quality health care and services;
        (H) obtaining and building quality, affordable 
 housing;
            (I) expanding educational and workforce training 
 opportunities;
        (J) increasing financial literacy and access to 
 financial services;
        (K) accessing affordable and nutritious food;
            (L) reducing gaps in access to technology and the 
 internet that impact educational and employment 
 opportunities and health services;
            (M) reducing environmental hazards and creating a 
 healthier environment;
        (N) accessing affordable and renewable energy 
 sources;
        (O) accessing affordable, reliant, and efficient 
 transportation systems; and
        (P) addressing the impacts of staffing and funding 
 cuts at Federal agencies.

    (2) Assessing or developing a methodology to assess how 
 various macroeconomic conditions (which may include 
 unemployment, inflation, gross domestic product, and monetary 
 policy) affect quality of life and affordability for working 
 families.

    (3) Assessing the effectiveness of current Federal policies 
 and programs in helping working families achieve an improved 
 standard of living.

    (4) Developing legislative and regulatory policy 
 recommendations to enhance the efforts of Federal agencies and 
 Congress to empower working families to meet the challenges of 
 current economic conditions, raise their standards of living, 
 and access the benefits of economic growth.

    (5) The Task Force shall consult with a wide-ranging group 
 of external stakeholders and public experts in order to develop 
 the recommendations referred to in paragraph

    (4) .

    (f) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Task Force shall--

    (1) submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
 report on its most recent findings and recommendations, which 
 shall include a list of stakeholders and public experts with 
 which the Task Force consulted and the meeting minutes for each 
 meeting of the Task Force; and

    (2) make such report publicly available on the website of 
 the Task Force.

    (g) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the following:

    (1) The Committee on Education and Workforce of the House 
 of Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education, 
 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate.

    (2) The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of 
 the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 
 Science, and Transportation of the Senate.

    (3) The Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
 Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate.

    (4) The Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
 Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural 
 Resources of the Senate.

    (5) The Committee on Agriculture of the House of 
 Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 
 and Forestry of the Senate.
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