often have limited social capital and political voice. (34) Strict voter ID requirements, closures of polling places, limited access to alternatives to in-person voting and other voter suppression tactics disproportionately impact poor and minority Americans. (35) The effects of poverty are widespread, long-lasting, and dangerous, and leave families vulnerable to unexpected events. (36) Adults who were poor during childhood are more likely to experience poverty as adults, are less likely to graduate high school, and are less likely to be consistently employed as young adults. (37) Lower incomes are associated with shorter life expectancies. (38) The COVID–19 pandemic threatens to increase health, food, housing, and economic insecurity and push millions of people into poverty. (39) Low-income and minority communities have long experienced inadequate access to health care, housing, nutritious food, and education and economic opportunity, which increase the prevalence of COVID–19 risk factors, such as diabetes, asthma, heart disease, and high blood pressure. (40) The COVID–19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the inequality and poverty afflicting the United States, as well as underlined the shortcomings of its social safety net programs. 31002. Sense of the House of Representatives It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the Congress should enact the Poverty Bill of Rights to reaffirm the right of all Americans to live a life free from poverty and its impacts, including the right to— (1) equal opportunity, irrespective of race, gender, or socioeconomic status