H.R. 2952 would amend title IV of the Social Security Act to require states, no later than October 1, 2017, to measure their success helping former recipients of assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program enter, retain, and advance in employment. Under the bill, states, in consultation with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), would set specific targets for measuring success in each of those three areas.
Under current law, HHS is required to annually rank state performance in moving TANF recipients into private-sector employment, and states may use TANF funding to support their monitoring and tracking activities. If states alter their spending under the TANF program because of the new performance targets, the rate of direct spending under the TANF program would change. However, based on information from HHS, CBO estimates that any change in direct spending would not be significant. Because enacting this bill could affect direct spending, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 2952 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.
H.R. 2952 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and any costs to state, local, tribal governments would result from complying with conditions of assistance.
