TANF State Expenditure Integrity Act of 2025
The TANF State Expenditure Integrity Act of 2025 would expand federal oversight over how subrecipients use TANF funds. It would create a dedicated TANF Program Integrity Unit within the Administration for Children & Families (ACF) to monitor subrecipient use of TANF dollars and identify intentional misuse, supplement existing State audits, and require States to report certain information. The bill would authorize and fund this effort with an annual $10 million increase to the TANF program’s 403(a)(1)(C) funding and would require an annual congressional report on the unit’s activities. If misuse is found, the Secretary would require the State to repay the amount misused by funding cash assistance to families with incomes below the poverty line. The act also sets a two-year timeline for rulemaking and a specific effective date, tied to the calendar quarter or the federal fiscal year. In short, the bill aims to detect and deter intentional misuse of TANF subrecipient funds, strengthen state accountability, expand federal staff and monitoring resources, and channel misused funds back to direct cash assistance for very low-income families.
Key Points
- 1Subrecipient monitoring framework and supplementary reporting. The Secretary would develop a framework to monitor how subrecipients use TANF funds (to detect intentional misuse) and may require state plan formats and reporting to support this effort, while not limiting existing single-state audits.
- 2Creation and funding of a TANF Program Integrity Unit. The Secretary must create a TANF Program Integrity Unit within the ACF to conduct the monitoring described above, funded by a $10 million annual increase in 403(a)(1)(C) funds for staffing and operations.
- 3Annual congressional reporting. The Secretary must submit an annual report to Congress detailing the activities of the TANF Program Integrity Unit for the prior fiscal year.
- 4Enhanced remedies for intentional misuse. If misuse is found, States must not only face penalties but also be required to expend an amount equal to the misused funds to provide cash assistance directly to families with incomes under 100 percent of the poverty line.
- 5Rulemaking deadline and effective date. The Secretary must publish notice of rulemaking within two years, and the amendments take effect on the later of the fifth calendar quarter after enactment or the first federal fiscal year beginning after enactment.