Rep. Jodey Arrington
The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee on May 21 approved a package of reforms for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, including legislation from U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) that would track improper TANF payments and set targets for reducing fraud and payment errors.
“Washington’s abject failure to protect tax dollars has resulted in an unprecedented scale of fraud that threatens not only the sustainability of our safety net programs, but also the future economic viability of our nation,” Rep. Arrington said. “This problem is strikingly clear in the TANF program, where federal funds are administered by state governments with no federal oversight, leaving billions of dollars in taxpayer funding vulnerable to fraud and improper payments every year.”
The committee voted 23-19 to advance the larger Preventing Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in TANF Act, H.R. 8872, which six Republicans, including Rep. Arrington, introduced on May 19 to amend the Social Security Act to target funds to low-income families, strengthen program integrity guardrails for state expenditure of funds, require measurement of improper payments, and establish goals for eliminating fraud and improper payments under the TANF program of block grants to states.
The measure includes the Eliminating Fraud and Improper Payments in TANF Act, H.R. 2242, which Rep. Arrington sponsored in March 2025 to also amend the Social Security Act to measure improper payments and establish goals for eliminating fraud and improper payments under TANF.
“I introduced the Eliminating Fraud and Improper Payments in TANF Act, which I was proud to see included in the legislative package to reform TANF that was advanced by the Ways and Means Committee,” said Rep. Arrington. “This critical legislation will provide much-needed oversight of the TANF program and ensure that the federal government is fulfilling its responsibility to safeguard American tax dollars.”
If enacted, the larger reform package would strengthen accountability by requiring state governments to report improper payment data for TANF to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the first time, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Arrington’s office.
H.R. 8872 now heads to the U.S. House of Representatives for action.