Preventing Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in Tanf Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LaHOOD. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Preventing Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in TANF Act.

TANF was created with a clear purpose, and I think it is important to remember this: To help families move from welfare to work, promote self-sufficiency, and support low-income parents and children. That mission is undermined when taxpayer dollars are not properly protected.

When Federal welfare funds are vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse, the consequences are real. States face weaker incentives to ensure dollars are spent appropriately. Taxpayers lose confidence in the program and, most importantly, families who truly need assistance lose out because resources are not preserved for them.

As the chairman of the Subcommittee on Work and Welfare, I have worked for years to identify and stop the TANF fraud in the program.

Chairman Jason Smith and I sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office in 2023 requesting information on TANF's program accountability measures.

In response, the GAO issued five reports in 2025 identifying that TANF lacks numerous oversight and financial guardrails expected in public assistance programs. More specifically, the GAO identified 37 States with 162 TANF audit findings. Many of these findings were deemed severe, and the problems repeated over multiple years.

They also found that States are sitting on nearly $8 billion in unspent TANF funds. That is $8 billion of taxpayer money, which has doubled since 2015.

Finally, the GAO recommended that HHS be provided with authority to require States to measure and report improper payments.

This bill that we are debating here today will address many of these findings.

First, it finally would require improper payments reporting in TANF.

Second, it puts in place spending timelines so States aren't sitting on large reserves of funds that aren't making their way to families. This will ensure that States do not tap into those unused funds for needy families when there are State budget shortfalls, which happens way too often.

Lastly, the bill includes a new Federal eligibility guideline and targeting to make sure funds are going to families under 200 percent of the poverty line.

If Congress is going to provide billions of dollars each year for TANF, we have a responsibility and obligation as elected leaders to ensure that dollars are helping the families experiencing genuine financial hardship.

The Preventing Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in TANF Act will reduce fraud, restore accountability, and help preserve TANF benefits for families who truly need them.

We should all be able to agree that welfare funds should go to families who need help and not to fraudsters, wasteful spending, or people or programs that can provide for themselves without Federal assistance.

In closing, I urge my colleagues to support-- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

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Mr. LaHOOD. In closing, I urge my colleagues to support and help taxpayers by voting for the Preventing Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in TANF Act.

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