TANF Overhaul Bill: New Work Plans, Outcome Metrics & Spending Rules Proposed by 2026

The "Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services (JOBS) for Success Act of 2025" is on the table, aiming to reauthorize and significantly reshape the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. This legislation would extend funding for key assistance grants through 2030 and roll out a series of reforms designed to boost workforce participation and program accountability, with most changes slated to kick in by October 1, 2026. At its heart, the bill seeks to change how states support needy families by zeroing in on personalized engagement, measurable job outcomes, and more strategic use of federal dollars.

Your New Game Plan: Personalized Roadmaps to Work

A big shift in this bill (Sec. 5) is the move towards "universal engagement" and highly individualized support. States will need to assess each work-eligible adult's skills, barriers, and family situation. Based on this, they'll co-create an "individual opportunity plan" with the recipient. Think of this plan as a detailed roadmap: it includes a personal responsibility agreement, specific employment goals, and the services the state will provide, like job counseling or referrals for substance abuse treatment. For instance, someone applying for TANF would, within 60 days of being found eligible, work with a case manager to develop this plan. It's a signed agreement, and progress gets reviewed at least every 90 days. Failure to comply without a good reason could lead to reduced benefits.

Show Me the Results: States Graded on Jobs, Not Just Sign-Ups

Forget just counting heads in programs; this bill (Sec. 6) wants to measure actual success. Starting in Fiscal Year 2028 (with data collection beginning in FY2027 for a baseline), states will be judged on new performance accountability measures. These include the percentage of people getting unsubsidized jobs after leaving TANF, how many are still employed later, their median earnings, and even the rate of young adults getting a high school diploma or equivalent. This means state TANF programs will be evaluated more like a business looking at job placement success. This performance data, including a grade for each state, will be publicly available on a federal dashboard. The bill also updates allowable work activities, adding "apprenticeships" and specifying "supervised" job search and "career technical education" (replacing vocational educational training).

Smarter Spending? New Rules for the TANF Piggy Bank

The bill gets specific about who gets TANF and how the money is spent. Sec. 7 prohibits using TANF grants for families with monthly incomes over twice the federal poverty line. The cap on administrative spending by states drops from 15% to 10%, although costs for IT, computerization, and case management are exempt from this lower cap. A significant change is that states can no longer use TANF funds for direct spending on child care and early childhood education programs. However, they gain more flexibility to transfer TANF money – up to 50% of their grant – to dedicated Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) programs or Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Further, Sec. 8 mandates that states reserve 25% of their federal TANF grant and 25% of their own required state spending for "core activities" like work supports, education and training, and case management. And, as a specific restriction in Sec. 16, TANF funds cannot be accessed via EBT at establishments that sell marijuana.

Keeping it Clean: More Oversight and Better Data

Expect more federal oversight if this bill passes. The Improper Payments Information Act and related laws will now apply directly to state TANF programs, aiming to identify and reduce incorrect payments (Sec. 9). States will also have to ensure they're using federal TANF money to enhance, not replace, their own spending on these programs (Sec. 10). The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gets stronger approval power over state TANF plans, which must be submitted every two years and include more detail on case management practices and strategies for engaging low-income noncustodial parents (Sec. 12). Data reporting is also getting a major upgrade: Sec. 13 requires states to report full-population data (not just samples) and more detailed information on participation in work activities. Sec. 14 calls for new federal data exchange standards to help different systems communicate better.

Clearing the Decks and Looking Ahead

Beyond these major shifts, the bill makes other notable changes. It officially adds "reducing child poverty" by increasing parental employment as a stated purpose of the TANF program (Sec. 11). States will be allowed to reserve up to 15% of their annual grant funds without a time limit, potentially for use during economic downturns (Sec. 15). Sec. 17 provides updated definitions for key terms like "assistance," "work supports," and "supportive services." To streamline the program, Sec. 18 eliminates a number of older, potentially obsolete provisions, including supplemental grants for states, bonuses for high performance, and dedicated welfare-to-work grants, signaling a move towards the new outcome-focused framework.