[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 137 (Thursday, July 16, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43242-43243]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-15319]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Request for Information on Federal Coordination To Promote 
Economic Mobility for All Americans

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation 
(ASPE), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Request for Information.

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SUMMARY: HHS is publishing this Request for Information (RFI) to seek 
public input on the development of a federal interagency Council on 
Economic Mobility (Council). HHS and the Council will analyze 
information collected in this RFI to gather feedback from our 
stakeholders to better inform the Council's priorities and how the 
Council can promote economic mobility, recovery, and resilience.

DATES: Submit written comments at the address provided below no later 
than October 2, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to [email protected]. 
HHS encourages the early submission of comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The ASPE Council team at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Invitation to Comment: HHS invites comments 
regarding the questions included in this notice. To ensure that your 
comments are clearly stated, please identify the specific question, or 
other section of this notice, that your comments address.

1.0 Background

    As announced in HHS's 2020 Congressional Justification, HHS is 
leading the development and establishment of an interagency Council on 
Economic Mobility (Council). The Council is composed of the heads of 
member agencies (HHS; the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Education, 
Labor, Housing and Urban Development [HUD], and Treasury; the Social 
Security Administration [SSA]; and the Council of Economic Advisors 
[CEA]) or their delegates. HHS will also serve as the first Council 
chair.
    As an administratively established group, the Council is 
constrained to activities and authorities contained in current law. As 
an interagency group, the Council is focusing on areas that are 
crosscutting, issues that cannot be accomplished by a single agency on 
its own, seeking to create an accountable and effective structure for 
interagency collaboration and using federal authorities to promote 
family-sustaining careers and economic mobility for low-income 
Americans. The Council aims to promote economic recovery and build 
resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, learning from the 
response to build a more integrated and effective long-term federal 
strategy to promote economic mobility and help individuals sustain 
their economic success.
    Many federal workforce and work support programs and services are 
overseen by the Council member agencies, such as the Child Care and 
Development Fund, Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program 
Employment and Training, the Family Self-Sufficiency program, the Jobs 
Plus program, Vocational Rehabilitation programs, and Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act programs, among others. For examples of 
more potential programs, go to https://tinyurl.com/CouncilonEconomicMobility.

2.0 Request for Information

    Through this RFI, HHS and its interagency partners (Agriculture, 
Education, Labor, HUD, Treasury, SSA, CEA, the Office of Management and 
Budget, and the Domestic Policy Council) seek to gather feedback from 
our stakeholders--state and local government agencies, local program 
operators, and the people that we serve. The information gathered in 
response to the RFI will be used to better inform the Council's 
priorities, working group activities, stakeholder engagement, and 
federal programs. Council members and the entire U.S. government are 
committed to a healthy and resilient America. COVID-19 has touched 
individuals and families in every corner of America--with communities 
across the country experiencing the pandemic in different ways. 
Feedback on the specific economic mobility, recovery, and resilience 
challenges in local communities in the short, medium, and long term is 
welcome.

3.0 Key Questions

    3.1 What priorities would you identify for the new federal Council 
on Economic Mobility?
    3.2 As a state, community, or provider, what are your suggestions 
for how to make federal workforce and work support programs work better 
together in your state or community at this time and in the long-term? 
Please share any examples of effective federal program coordination.
    3.3 As a state, community, or provider, what do you think are the 
immediate barriers preventing federal workforce and work support 
programs from collaborating in your state or community? What are the 
long-term barriers?
    3.4 How can federal agencies collaborate and coordinate to help 
program operators foster participant economic mobility, recovery, and 
resilience, using administrative authorities such as joint 
communications, technical assistance, and program guidance? What are 
specific examples based on your experience?
    3.5 How are program cliff effects and high effective marginal tax 
rates impacting the economic mobility of individuals and families in 
your community? What methods are being used to address these 
challenges?
    NOTE: An effective marginal tax rate is the proportion of new 
earnings owed in taxes or needed to offset reductions in program 
benefits and quantifies the share of new earnings not available to 
families. For example, if a family earns an additional $400 during the 
year which prompts a $200 reduction in program benefits, this is an 
effective marginal tax rate of 50 percent on their new earnings. A 
program ``cliff effect'' refers to a marginal tax rate of 100 percent 
or more. This results from a loss

[[Page 43243]]

of benefits that equals or exceeds the earnings gain. That is, 100 
percent or more of new earnings are eclipsed by benefit losses.
    3.6 What kind of federal operational systems--such as data 
interoperability, grant, and contract mechanisms--would make it easier 
to meet your goals related to economic mobility?
    3.7 What are the most significant challenges that prevent 
participants/recipients of federal workforce, work support, and housing 
programs from fully participating in such programs? Do these challenges 
present obstacles for participants in meeting their economic and 
employment goals? For example, are there barriers related to child 
care, transportation, health, disability, caring for a family member, 
substance use disorder, etc.?
    3.8 How can federal agencies better work together to help 
participants, including those facing multiple barriers, overcome these 
barriers in the short term and achieve economic mobility and resilience 
in the long term?
    3.9 What federal rules do you wish had more flexibility? What 
flexibilities do you need to respond to economic crises?
    3.10 What do you wish government officials knew about your work?
    3.11 What workforce and work support programs more easily align 
with others?
    3.12 What are your suggestions for how to proactively support 
workforce preparation prior to an individual needing to participate in 
a federal workforce or work support program, such as programs focused 
on youth?
    3.13 Are there existing workforce programs or strategies that have 
not historically been widely accessible to lower income individuals and 
families that could help them achieve economic mobility, recovery, and 
resilience if they had better access to them? If so, please identify.
    3.14 How does your program define and measure economic mobility? 
What data do you use?
    3.15 Do you have recommendations for how to define and measure 
economic mobility that could be used across different programs?

    Dated: July 9, 2020.
Brenda Destro,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Office of Human 
Services Policy.
[FR Doc. 2020-15319 Filed 7-15-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-05-P