Washington, D.C. – Congressman Darin LaHood (IL-16) – Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Work and Welfare – and Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) introduced the Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services (JOBS) for Success Act of 2025. This piece of legislation provides common-sense reforms to reauthorize, modernize, and reform the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
“It is time for Congress to modernize the TANF program to protect against fraud and ensure that the program is assisting our most vulnerable individuals and families,” said Rep. LaHood. “It is clear that the lack of guardrails makes the system ripe for abuse. I was proud to introduce the JOBS for Success Act alongside Senator Daines to ensure TANF funds are being used to remove barriers to work and help individuals realize their full potential.”
“Nobody wants to depend on the government’s help, and this bill is a crucial step in modernizing the TANF program to ensure that we’re helping families escape the cycle of poverty and equipping them for self-sufficiency,” said Senator Daines. “By promoting work ethic and responsibility, we can cut straight to the root causes of economic disadvantage and child poverty, and our families will be far better off.”
“Modernizing our nation’s welfare programs remains a top priority of the Ways and Means Committee,” said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08). “Our efforts are to focus on the needs of low-income families and holding accountable a bureaucracy that too often fails those it is meant to serve. Thanks to the collaborative work of our members – under the leadership of Work and Welfare Subcommittee Chairman LaHood – we are taking important steps toward a reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to ensure it directs critical resources toward those who are truly in need of assistance and helps lift more Americans out of poverty through work. The reforms provided for in the JOBS for Success Act will bring much needed transparency and accountability to TANF and protect against the waste, fraud, and abuse of American tax dollars so that resources are targeted toward solutions that help more Americans achieve economic independence and realize the dignity of work.”
Background:
The JOBS for Success Act is comprised of seven member bills focused on reforming and modernizing TANF. This bill will reform the TANF program to ensure families utilizing this system receive the assistance, training, and services needed to connect them with jobs and succeed in the workforce.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Department of Health and Human Services must do more to monitor the use of welfare funding under the TANF program by states, including strengthening the department’s fraud risk management efforts to improve outreach and coordination, and establish better guidance to improve accountability.
GAO’s review found multiple areas in need of improvement and confirms that TANF non-assistance, which constitutes 78 percent of total spending, lacks basic financial guardrails, creating an environment ripe for waste, fraud, and abuse.
GAO’s analysis comes in response to a request by Rep. LaHood and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith as part of the committee’s ongoing oversight of TANF.
The JOBS for Success Act is supported by:
- Taxpayers Protection Alliance: “The Taxpayers Protection Alliance applauds Sen. Daines and Rep. LaHood’s leadership on reordering the incentives of, and bringing accountability to, the TANF program. Orienting federal payments programs towards employment — reinforcing the truth that dignified work is the ideal — is critical for reform. This tried and true method will be more cost effective and will help achieve the ultimate goal of these payments: getting Americans working and self-sufficient.”
- National Taxpayer Union: “The National Taxpayers Union is pleased to support JOBS for Success, which would preserve the ability of the federal government to provide a helping hand to vulnerable Americans, but now this hand would help citizens help themselves by reconnecting them to the labor market and ending generational cycles of poverty across the country,” said David Timmons, CEO. “The ability to provide taxpayers some real savings is just icing on the cake.”
- Americans for Tax Reform: "Over time, Congress has allowed TANF’s work requirements to weaken, and many states have abdicated their statutory duty to encourage TANF recipients to find work. If the program’s assistance is truly intended to be temporary, it is imperative that recipients are empowered to hone their skills and climb the economic ladder. Thankfully, Rep. LaHood and Senator Daines have introduced the JOBS for Success Act. This bill would restore accountability, requiring that all TANF recipients have a job, are actively looking for a job, or are giving back to their community via volunteer work. These reforms provide needed structure, requiring recipients to meet short and long-term career goals based on individualized plans built around their specific skill level and education. If lawmakers value restoring the dignity of work and ensuring stable employment for hundreds of thousands of Americans, they should support the JOBS for Success Act."
- Americans for Prosperity
- Club for Growth
- Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
Read a section-by-section description HERE.
Read the full text of the bill HERE.
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