Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services (JOBS) for Success Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Senator Steve Daines
Introduced
Summary
Refocuses TANF on work outcomes and stricter program rules. The Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services (JOBS) for Success Act of 2025 would reauthorize and reshape the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program by requiring individualized opportunity plans, creating a national performance system tied to employment exits, tightening eligibility and integrity rules, and changing how states may spend and report funds.
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- Families: Work-eligible adults would face a required assessment and an Individual Opportunity Plan developed with the recipient that sets monthly work-hour obligations, job counseling, and referrals. New participants must complete a plan within 60 days and plans must be reviewed at least every 90 days; failure to comply can reduce family benefits.
- Workers and young people: The bill would expand allowed work activities to include apprenticeships and career technical education, require supervised job search where appropriate, and let people under 24 who are still in secondary school opt to finish high school or an equivalent while receiving benefits.
- States and program administration: The bill would cut the administrative cap to 10 percent and require states to reserve and spend at least 25 percent of TANF grants on core activities like training, supports, and case management. It would also permit transfers into child care and workforce programs and eliminate several existing grant streams such as welfare-to-work and bonus grants.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 0 costs, 4 mixed.
New income limits and MOE rules
If enacted, the bill would bar a State from using TANF family assistance funds for any family whose monthly income is above twice the federal poverty line. It would narrow what State spending counts toward Maintenance-of-Effort (MOE), require TANF funds to supplement rather than supplant State spending, remove several older TANF grant programs, and extend grant-year references through 2030. The bill would also add reducing child poverty as an explicit TANF objective. These changes would take effect October 1, 2026.
Rules for how States spend TANF
If enacted, the bill would limit State administrative use of TANF grants to 10 percent (with IT and IOP case management exceptions) and require at least 25 percent of a State's grant be spent on core activities like work supports and training. States could transfer up to 50 percent of their grant to child-care or workforce programs, but TANF funds could not be used directly to pay for child care or for establishments that sell marihuana. States could reserve up to 15 percent of a grant for future use and must meet timing rules for obligating and spending funds. These rules would begin October 1, 2026.
New work plans and rules for TANF
If enacted, States would assess every work-eligible TANF adult and make an Individual Opportunity Plan (IOP). Current recipients would get one year to complete the plan; new eligibles would get 60 days. IOPs would set required work activities and monthly hour expectations, list services and referrals, and must be reviewed at least every 90 days. The bill would also expand what counts as work (for example apprenticeships and career technical education), let States exempt single parents with infants for up to 12 months, and use a pro rata formula to cut a family's monthly benefit if required hours are missed. These rules would start October 1, 2026.
TANF performance, data, and penalties
If enacted, HHS would build a new TANF performance system using employment exit measures with a FY2027 baseline and negotiations starting in FY2028. States would have to submit full-population data, follow interoperable data standards, and publish results on a public dashboard. HHS would apply improper payment rules to TANF and issue regulations and reduction plans, and the Secretary could reduce a State's grant if performance or engagement standards are not met. These changes would take effect October 1, 2026, with specified deadlines for rules and baselines.
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Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Steve Daines
MT • R
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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