What is the official poverty line defined by the Office of Management and Budget ?
This phrase refers to the Census Bureau poverty thresholds, although it is included in the legislative section of the 1981 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) that requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to update the poverty guidelines annually. The thresholds are mentioned in this legislative section because they are the starting point from which the poverty guidelines are calculated. (The legislative section is section 673(2) of OBRA-1981 or of the Community Services Block Grant Act; the U.S. Code citation is 42 U.S.C. 9902(2).) The Census Bureau poverty thresholds are described using this phrase because in August 1969, the Bureau of the Budget (the predecessor of the Office of Management and Budget) issued a document designating the Census Bureau poverty thresholds as the federal government s official statistical definition of poverty. (The 1978 version of this document is available on the Census Bureau website.) However, the role of the Office of Management and Bu
