Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act

Bill: 118-s-3741
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Scott, Tim [R-SC]
Introduced: 2024-02-06
Policy area: Health
Latest action: action_date: 2024-02-06
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Summaries:
action_date: 2024-02-06
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act</strong></p><p>This bill prohibits the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing (with respect to certain pregnancy centers) a provision of a proposed rule modifying the standard for a state's reasonable use of funds under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.</p><p>The proposed rule provides that if ACF identifies a TANF expenditure that does not appear to reasonably accomplish a purpose of TANF then the state must show that it used the funds in a manner that a reasonable person would consider to be within one of the purposes.</p><p>The bill prohibits ACF from applying this standard to state expenditures for pregnancy centers that (1) support protecting the life of the mother and the unborn child; and (2) offer resources and services to mothers, fathers, and families, including but relationship counseling, prenatal and pregnancy education, pregnancy testing, diapers, baby clothes, or material supports.</p><p>Under current law, TANF funds may be used for any of four purposes, including to prevent and reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies. In the supplemental information to the proposed rule, ACF states that TANF expenditures for programs that exclusively or primarily provide pregnancy counseling to women only after they become pregnant have a tenuous or nonexistent connection to this purpose and, therefore, likely do not meet the proposed reasonableness standard.</p>

tv_txt: II 118th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3741 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 6, 2024 Mr. Scott of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. Schmitt , Mrs. Hyde-Smith , Mr. Risch , Mr. Kennedy , and Mr. Braun ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from restricting funding for pregnancy centers.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act . 2. Prohibition on discrimination against pregnancy centers (a) In general The Secretary of Health and Human Services may not finalize, implement, or enforce, with respect to expenditures for any pregnancy center, the modification to section 263.11 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, as described in the proposed regulation set forth beginning on page 67697 of volume 88 of the Federal Register, or any substantially similar regulatory action. (b) Definition of pregnancy center In subsection (a), the term pregnancy center means any organization, such as a pregnancy resource center, pregnancy help center or organization, or pregnancy medical center, that— (1) supports protecting the life of the mother and the unborn child; and (2) offers resources and services to mothers, fathers, and families, including but not limited to relationship counseling, prenatal and pregnancy education, pregnancy testing, diapers, baby clothes, or material supports.