The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program — the main federal welfare program that gives states block grants to help low-income families — would be reauthorized through 2030 and significantly overhauled. TANF's $16.5 billion annual block grant, unchanged since 1996, would continue at the same level but with tighter rules on how states spend it. States would be required to focus funds on "core purposes" like cash assistance, job training, and child care, with less flexibility to divert money to unrelated programs. Every TANF recipient capable of working would get an individual assessment and opportunity plan within 60 days, with mandatory participation in work activities. The bill replaces the current participation-rate system — which states have gamed for years — with outcome-based measures tracking actual employment and earnings. States would also face new requirements to measure and report improper payments, and HHS would have to approve state plans rather than simply accepting them. A new economic downturn provision would automatically release additional funding when unemployment spikes. Notably, Section 16 ("Welfare for Needs Not Weed") prohibits using TANF benefits to purchase marijuana, even in states where it's legal.
Average Household Impact
- TANF eligibility ceiling — Cut off for families with monthly income above twice the federal poverty line
- State administrative spending cap — Reduced from 15% to 10% of the block grant
- Direct TANF spending on child care — Prohibited for states receiving the block grant
- Family benefit when work hours fall short — Reduced pro-rata based on hours actually worked
- Mandatory work-engagement requirements — Universal individual opportunity plans required within 60 days of eligibility
- Economic-downturn set-aside — States allowed to reserve up to 15% of TANF funds without fiscal-year limit for future use
Transparency & Accountability
- Public TANF performance dashboard — HHS required to publish state-by-state employment, earnings, and demographic outcomes
- HHS approval of state plans — Plans must be approved rather than simply accepted
- Improper-payments review — Federal improper-payments laws extended to TANF, with state reporting required
- State grant penalty for missed work outcomes — Up to 5% of family assistance grant withheld for noncompliance
Congressional Summary
This bill reauthorizes the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program through FY2030, establishes new metrics for measuring states’ performance within the program, and makes other changes to the program’s requirements.Under current law, states participating in TANF are required to meet certain minimum participation rates, or percentages of beneficiaries engaged in work. The bill eliminates minimum participation rates and replaces them with metrics tied to employment outcomes, such as former beneficiaries’ rates of unsubsidized employment and earnings at particular points in time. The Department of Health and Human Services must publish a website with information on each state’s performance. The bill also requires states to create an individual opportunity plan for each beneficiary and to meet with each work-eligible beneficiary at least every 90 days to review the individual’s progress under their plan. (Under current law, individual plans are optional.)Further, the bill prohibits states from using TANF funds to provide benefits to families with monthly incomes that exceed twice the poverty line.Finally, the bill requires states to spend at least 25% of their TANF grant funds on certain activities, including work supports, education and training, and apprenticeships. The bill also lowers the percentage of TANF funds that a state may spend on administrative costs to 10%, with an exception for costs related to case management necessary to assist in the development of individual opportunity plans.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-05-01
- Date Added
- 2026-04-14
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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