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Improve Transparency and Stability for Families and Children Act
To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to establish deadlines for the obligation and expenditure of funds and allow States to establish rainy day funds under the program of block grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families.
Summary
This bill amends the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to establish strict timelines for how states must use federal block grant funds. States would be required to obligate funds within one year of receiving them and to spend the funds within two years. The bill allows states to reserve up to 15 percent of their annual TANF funding for future use, provided that total reserves do not exceed 50 percent of the prior year's payment amount. States that choose to reserve funds must notify the federal Secretary of Health and Human Services of their intention. The provisions take effect on October 1, 2026.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Carey, Mike [R-OH-15] (R-OH)
2 cosponsors
- Rep. Kelly, Mike [R-PA-16] (R-PA)
- Rep. Miller, Max L. [R-OH-7] (R-OH)
Actions (2)
- Mar 26, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. · house
- Mar 26, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
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Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 26, 2025
Mr. Carey (for himself and Mr. Miller of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to establish deadlines for the obligation and expenditure of funds and allow States to establish rainy day funds under the program of block grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families.
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 “Improve Transparency and Stability for Families and Children Act”.
SEC. 2. DEADLINES FOR THE OBLIGATION AND EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS.
(a) In General.—Section 404(e) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 604(e)) is amended to read as follows:
“(e) Deadlines for Obligation and Expenditure of Funds by States.—
“(1) In general.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), a State to which funds are paid, after the effective date of this subsection, under section 403(a)(1) for a fiscal year shall obligate the funds not later than the end of the succeeding fiscal year, and shall expend the funds not later than the end of the 2nd succeeding fiscal year.
“(2) Exception for limited amount of funds set aside for future use.—
“(A) In general.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of this subsection, a State to which funds are paid under section 403(a)(1), after the effective date of this subsection, for a fiscal year may reserve not more than 15 percent of the funds for future use in the State program funded under this part, subject to subparagraph
(B) of this paragraph.
“(B) Limitation.—The total amount held in reserve by a State under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph shall not exceed an amount equal to 50 percent of the total amount paid to the State under section 403(a)(1) for the then preceding fiscal year.
“(C) Notice of intent to reserve funds.—A State that intends to reserve funds under subparagraph (A) shall notify the Secretary of the intention not later than the end of the period in which the funds are available for obligation without regard to subparagraph
(A) of this paragraph.”.
(b) Effective Date.—The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect on October 1, 2026. <all>
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