Upward Mobility Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Representative Moore, Blake D. [R-UT-1]
Introduced
Summary
This bill would let up to five States consolidate federal antipoverty funds into five-year "Upward Mobility Grants" to limit benefit cliffs and cap marginal effective tax rates while boosting employment and earnings. It aims to combine cash, nutrition, child care, housing, energy, and job services into coordinated pilots that redesign eligibility and supports to promote upward mobility.
Show full summary
- Families: Low-income households could receive a single per-capita direct assistance stream that combines SNAP, TANF cash, child care subsidies, housing and energy help, and employment services to reduce cliffs and encourage work.
- States and local partners: Up to five States may run one five-year pilot each and apply for full or limited consolidation; limited pilots can get between 10% and 100% of the calculated grant amount. Grants are paid quarterly and updated by inflation using the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index.
- Rules and accountability: Pilots must include work requirements based on SNAP rules, limited waivers that protect civil rights and safety, data sharing, and independent annual evaluations tracking METRs, earnings, employment, and poverty outcomes.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 3 mixed.
Five‑year state pilot for benefits
If enacted, the bill would let up to five States run one five-year Upward Mobility pilot each. Approved pilots would let a State combine federal dollars for SNAP, TANF family cash, child care block grants, LIHEAP energy help, WIOA dislocated-worker services, certain community development and housing funds, and Section 521 household assistance into a single pilot. Money that federal law directs to Indian tribes would be excluded from what a State can consolidate. In a full consolidation pilot, people receiving per-capita direct assistance generally would not be allowed to get additional antipoverty benefits outside the pilot during the five-year project.
How grants and emergency funds work
If enacted, the bill would calculate a State's first-year Upward Mobility Grant by totaling the State's prior-year covered amounts and adjusting that total by the percent change in the BEA PCE price index for the preceding year. Later years would start from the prior year's calculated grant and be adjusted by the PCE change. Grants would be paid quarterly at 25 percent per quarter. A State approved for a limited-scope pilot could elect to receive between 10 and 100 percent of the otherwise-calculated grant. Federal agencies must transfer administrative funding to participating States based on the State's prior share of nonadministrative funding. During qualifying downturns or emergencies, approved pilot States could request that SNAP, TANF, or LIHEAP contingency or emergency funds be used for pilot recipients under the agencies' legal authorities.
Application, waivers, and evaluations
If enacted, States would have to file detailed applications showing how the grant will reduce poverty, which rules the State wants waived, benefit designs, eligibility rules, fraud controls, housing assurances, local engagement, and an independent evaluation plan. The Secretary would post each application online within 5 days, open a 30-day public comment period, and decide within 90 days (30 days for modified applications). The Secretary could grant waivers requested in an approved application, but not for core protections like civil rights, health and safety, labor rules, environmental protections, or rules about noncitizen benefits. States must hire an independent evaluator and use random assignment where feasible, or other strong quasi-experimental designs, and applications that cap average Marginal Effective Tax Rates on earned-income increases at 50% or less would get approval priority.
Agency reorganization and continuity
If enacted, the Office of Management and Budget could transfer certain functions, staff, contracts, records, and unexpended balances for the pilots into the Administration for Children and Families. The Secretary could delegate transferred functions within the Administration. Existing orders, permits, contracts, and pending agency proceedings would continue in effect until lawfully changed and references in other law would be read to mean the Secretary or the Administration as appropriate.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Moore, Blake D. [R-UT-1]
UT • R
Cosponsors
Rep. Miller, Max L. [R-OH-7]
OH • R
Sponsored 1/21/2026
Rep. Taylor, David J. [R-OH-2]
OH • R
Sponsored 1/22/2026
Rep. Grothman, Glenn [R-WI-6]
WI • R
Sponsored 4/14/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov