Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services (JOBS) for Success Act of 2025
Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services (JOBS) for Success Act of 2025
Plain Language Summary
# JOBS for Success Act of 2025 – Summary **What the bill does:** This proposed legislation would renew federal funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program—which provides cash assistance to low-income families—through 2030. Instead of requiring states to meet minimum percentages of people actively participating in work activities, the bill would shift to measuring success based on actual employment outcomes, such as how many former recipients find jobs and how much they earn over time.
States would be required to create personalized opportunity plans for each beneficiary and check in with them regularly (every 90 days) to track progress. **Who it affects:** This bill primarily impacts low-income families receiving TANF benefits and the states that administer the program. It also affects how the federal government evaluates whether states are successfully helping people transition to work. **Current status:** The bill was introduced in the 119th Congress by Representative Darin LaHood (R-Illinois) and is currently in committee, meaning it has not yet been voted on by the full House of Representatives.
CRS Official Summary
Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services (JOBS) for Success Act of 2025This bill reauthorizes the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program through FY2030, establishes new metrics for measuring states’ performance within the program, and makes other changes to the program’s requirements.Under current law, states participating in TANF are required to meet certain minimum participation rates, or percentages of beneficiaries engaged in work. The bill eliminates minimum participation rates and replaces them with metrics tied to employment outcomes, such as former beneficiaries’ rates of unsubsidized employment and earnings at particular points in time. The Department of Health and Human Services must publish a website with information on each state’s performance. The bill also requires states to create an individual opportunity plan for each beneficiary and to meet with each work-eligible beneficiary at least every 90 days to review the individual’s progress under their plan. (Under current law, individual plans are optional.)Further, the bill prohibits states from using TANF funds to provide benefits to families with monthly incomes that exceed twice the poverty line.Finally, the bill requires states to spend at least 25% of their TANF grant funds on certain activities, including work supports, education and training, and apprenticeships. The bill also lowers the percentage of TANF funds that a state may spend on administrative costs to 10%, with an exception for costs related to case management necessary to assist in the development of individual opportunity plans.
Latest Action
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.