I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2952 

To provide payments to States for increasing the employment, job retention, 

and earnings of former TANF recipients. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 7, 2015 

Mr. BOUSTANY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To provide payments to States for increasing the employment, job retention, and earnings of former TANF recipients. 

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 ‘‘Improving Employ5 ment Outcomes of TANF Recipients Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INCREASING ECONOMIC MOBILITY OF TANF RE7 CIPIENTS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 403(a)(4) of the Social 

9 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 603(a)(4)) is amended to read 

10 as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(4) INCREASING ECONOMIC MOBILITY OF TANF

2 RECIPIENTS.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

4 make a grant under this paragraph to each 

5 State, with respect to each fiscal year for which 

6 the State achieves the requisite level of per7 formance with respect to an indicator described 

8 in subparagraph (C)(ii), in the immediately suc9 ceeding fiscal year. 

10 ‘‘(B) AMOUNT OF GRANT.— 

11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The amount of 

12 the grant payable to a State with respect 

13 to a fiscal year for which the State 

14 achieves the requisite level of performance 

15 with respect to an indicator described in 

16 subparagraph (C)(ii) shall be the following: 

17 ‘‘(I) 40 percent of the available 

18 amount with respect to the State for 

19 the fiscal year, if the indicator is de20 scribed in subparagraph (C)(ii)(I). 

21 ‘‘(II) 30 percent of the available 

22 amount with respect to the State for 

23 the fiscal year, if the indicator is de24 scribed in subparagraph (C)(ii)(II). 


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1 ‘‘(III) 30 percent of the available 

2 amount with respect to the State for 

3 the fiscal year, if the indicator is de4 scribed in subparagraph (C)(ii)(III). 

5 ‘‘(ii) AVAILABLE AMOUNT DEFINED.— 

6 In clause (i), the term ‘available amount’ 

7 means, with respect to a State and a fiscal 

8 year, the amount (if any) by which— 

9 ‘‘(I) the State family assistance 

10 grant that would be payable to the 

11 State for the fiscal year in the ab12 sence of this paragraph; exceeds 

13 ‘‘(II) the State family assistance 

14 grant actually payable to the State for 

15 the fiscal year. 

16 ‘‘(C) MEASURING STATE PERFORMANCE.— 

17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Each State, in 

18 consultation with the Secretary, shall es19 tablish levels of performance for each indi20 cator described in clause (ii), for fiscal 

21 year 2017 and each fiscal year thereafter. 

22 ‘‘(ii) INDICATORS.—The indicators de23 scribed in this clause are the following: 

24 ‘‘(I) The percentage of former 

25 adult recipients of assistance under 


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1 the State program funded under this 

2 part or any other State program fund3 ed with qualified State expenditures 

4 (as defined in section 409(a)(7)(B)(i)) 

5 who, while such recipients, were re6 quired to be engaged in work in ac7 cordance with section 407, and are in 

8 unsubsidized employment during the 

9 2nd quarter after exiting from the 

10 program. 

11 ‘‘(II) The percentage of former 

12 recipients of such assistance who are 

13 in unsubsidized employment during 

14 the 4th quarter after exiting from the 

15 program. 

16 ‘‘(III) The percentage change in 

17 median earnings of former recipients 

18 of such assistance who are in unsub19 sidized employment in the 4th quarter 

20 after exiting from the program com21 pared with the median earnings of 

22 former recipients who are in unsub23 sidized employment in the 2nd quar24 ter after exiting from the program. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) AGREEMENT ON REQUISITE

2 PERFORMANCE LEVEL FOR EACH INDI3 CATOR.— 

4 ‘‘(I) FISCAL YEARS 2017 AND

5 2018.—Each State shall reach agree6 ment with the Secretary on the req7 uisite level of performance for each in8 dicator described in clause (ii), for 

9 each of fiscal years 2017 and 2018. 

10 ‘‘(II) FISCAL YEARS 2019 AND

11 2020.—Each State shall reach agree12 ment with the Secretary, before fiscal 

13 year 2019, on the requisite level of 

14 performance with respect to each indi15 cator described in clause (ii), for each 

16 of fiscal years 2019 and 2020. 

17 ‘‘(D) REPORT ON STATE PERFORMANCE.— 

18 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than Oc19 tober 1, 2016, the Secretary shall develop 

20 a template which each State shall use to 

21 report on outcomes achieved under the 

22 State program funded under this part. 

23 ‘‘(ii) CONTENTS.—Each such report 

24 shall include— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the number of individuals 

2 who exited the program during the 

3 year; 

4 ‘‘(II) the characteristics of the 

5 individuals who exited the program 

6 during the year, including information 

7 on the length of time for which the in8 dividual received assistance under the 

9 program; and 

10 ‘‘(III) information specifying the 

11 levels of performance achieved with 

12 respect to each indicator described in 

13 subparagraph (C)(ii). 

14 ‘‘(iii) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 

15 September 30 of fiscal year 2019 and of 

16 each succeeding fiscal year, the Secretary 

17 shall make available to the public electroni18 cally each report submitted under this sub19 paragraph during the fiscal year. 

20 ‘‘(E) STATE FAILURE TO MEET PERFORM21 ANCE MEASURES.— 

22 ‘‘(i) RESERVATION OF FUNDS; RE23 QUIRED STATE SPENDING.—If a State fails 

24 to achieve the requisite level of perform25 ance with respect to an indicator described 


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1 in subparagraph (C)(ii) of this paragraph 

2 and a fiscal year— 

3 ‘‘(I) the Secretary shall reserve 

4 the funds that would have been pay5 able to the State under this paragraph 

6 if the State had achieved the level; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(II) the level of State expendi9 tures otherwise required to avoid a 

10 penalty under section 409(a)(7) in the 

11 succeeding fiscal year shall be in12 creased by the amount so reserved. 

13 ‘‘(ii) CORRECTIVE ACTION.—The Sec14 retary shall award to a State all funds re15 served under clause (i) for the fiscal year 

16 with respect to the State, an indicator, and 

17 a fiscal year, in the immediately succeeding 

18 fiscal year, if, in the immediately suc19 ceeding fiscal year, the State— 

20 ‘‘(I) achieves the requisite level of 

21 performance for the State with re22 spect to the indicator; or 

23 ‘‘(II) improves the State’s level of 

24 performance with respect to the indi25 cator by at least half of the amount 


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1 by which the State’s requisite level of 

2 performance with respect to the indi3 cator in the fiscal year exceeded the 

4 actual level of performance achieved 

5 by the State with respect to the indi6 cator in the fiscal year. 

7 ‘‘(F) FUNDING.—The following percent8 ages of the amounts appropriated under para9 graph (1)(C) for the following fiscal years are 

10 reserved for grants under this paragraph for 

11 the fiscal years: 

12 ‘‘(i) 4 percent, in the case of fiscal 

13 year 2018. 

14 ‘‘(ii) 10 percent, in the case of each of 

15 fiscal years 2019 and 2020.’’. 

16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

17 403(a)(1)(B) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 603(a)(1)(B)) is 

18 amended by inserting ‘‘, reduced by the percentage (if 

19 any) specified in paragraph (4)(F) with respect to the fis20 cal year,’’ before ‘‘as the amount’’. 

21 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

22 this Act shall take effect on October 1, 2015. 

Æ 


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