I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8203 

To prevent and address intentional misuse of subrecipient TANF funds. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 1, 2024 

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Ms. CHU, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. 

EVANS, Mr. GOMEZ, and Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To prevent and address intentional misuse of subrecipient 

TANF funds. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘TANF State Expendi5 ture Integrity Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO PREVENT AND ADDRESS INTEN7 TIONAL MISUSE OF SUBRECIPIENT FUNDS 

8 UNDER THE TANF PROGRAM. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 417 of the Social Security 

10 Act (42 U.S.C. 617) is amended— 


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1 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 

2 ‘‘No’’; and 

3 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY TO PREVENT INTENTIONAL MIS5 USE OF SUBRECIPIENT FUNDS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) SUBRECIPIENT MONITORING.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary— 

8 ‘‘(i) shall develop a framework for the 

9 monitoring of subrecipient use of funds 

10 provided under section 403(a)(1) of this 

11 Act, for the purpose of identifying inten12 tional misuse, to supplement single State 

13 audits conducted under chapter 75 of title 

14 31, United States Code; 

15 ‘‘(ii) may establish State plan require16 ments or formats relating to clause (i); and 

17 ‘‘(iii) may request States to report to 

18 the Secretary such information to supple19 ment the report provided under section 

20 411(a) as the Secretary determines is nec21 essary to enable the Secretary to comply 

22 with clauses (i) and (ii) of this subpara23 graph. 

24 ‘‘(B) NO EFFECT ON SINGLE STATE AUDIT

25 AUTHORITY.—Clause (i) of this subparagraph 


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1 shall not be interpreted to limit the authority of 

2 the Secretary to conduct single State audits 

3 under chapter 75 of title 31, United States 

4 Code. 

5 ‘‘(2) PROGRAM INTEGRITY UNIT AUTHORIZA6 TION AND FUNDING.— 

7 ‘‘(A) TANF PROGRAM INTEGRITY UNIT.— 

8 The Secretary shall create a TANF Program 

9 Integrity Unit at the Administration for Chil10 dren & Families, which shall conduct the moni11 toring described in paragraph (1)(A)(i). 

12 ‘‘(B) APPROPRIATION.—Out of any money 

13 in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the 

14 amount made available in section 403(a)(1)(C) 

15 for each fiscal year shall be increased by 

16 $10,000,000, and the amount of the increase 

17 shall be available for the staffing and oper18 ations of the TANF Program Integrity Unit 

19 and related functions. 

20 ‘‘(3) ANNUAL REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.— 

21 The Secretary shall submit an annual report to the 

22 Congress on the activities undertaken under para23 graph (2)(A) in the fiscal year covered by the re24 port.’’. 


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1 (b) REMEDIES.—Section 409(a)(1)(B) of such Act 

2 (42 U.S.C. 609(a)(1)(B)) is amended— 

3 (1) by striking ‘‘(B) ENHANCED PENALTY FOR

4 INTENTIONAL VIOLATIONS.—If’’ and inserting the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(B) ENHANCED PENALTY FOR INTEN7 TIONAL VIOLATIONS.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(ii) ADDITIONAL REMEDIES.—If the 

11 Secretary finds, as a result of subrecipient 

12 monitoring under section 417(b)(1) of this 

13 Act, that an amount has been intentionally 

14 misused in violation of this part, then the 

15 Secretary shall— 

16 ‘‘(I) notify the State involved of 

17 the finding; and 

18 ‘‘(II) in addition to any penalty 

19 imposed under clause (i), require the 

20 State to expend, in addition to any 

21 other amount required to be expended 

22 under the State program funded 

23 under this part, an amount equal to 

24 the amount so misused, for the provi25 sion of cash assistance directly to 


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1 families with an income below 100 

2 percent of the poverty line (as defined 

3 in section 673(2) of the Omnibus 

4 Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, 

5 including any revision required by 

6 such section, applicable to a family of 

7 the size involved).’’. 

8 (c) DEADLINE FOR PUBLICATION OF NOTICE OF

9 RULEMAKING.—Within 2 years after the date of the en10 actment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human 

11 Services shall publish a notice of rulemaking to implement 

12 the amendments made by this section. 

13 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

14 this section shall take effect on the later of— 

15 (1) the 1st day of the 5th calendar quarter that 

16 begins after the date of the enactment of this Act; 

17 or 

18 (2) the 1st day of the 1st Federal fiscal year 

19 that begins after such date of enactment. 

Æ 


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