{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://lahood.house.gov/2025/5/lahood-daines-introduce-the-jobs-for-success-act", "LaHood, Daines Introduce the JOBS for Success Act", "2025-05-01", "2025", "2025-05", "Republican", "House", "IL", "Darin LaHood", "L000585", "lahood.house.gov", "lahood", "https://lahood.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Congressman Darin LaHood (IL-16) \u2013 Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Work and Welfare \u2013 and Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) introduced the Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services (JOBS) for Success Act of 2025. This piece of legislation provides common-sense reforms to reauthorize, modernize, and reform the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.\n\n\u201cIt is time for Congress to modernize the TANF program to protect against fraud and ensure that the program is assisting our most vulnerable individuals and families,\u201d said Rep. LaHood. \u201cIt is clear that the lack of guardrails makes the system ripe for abuse. I was proud to introduce the JOBS for Success Act alongside Senator Daines to ensure TANF funds are being used to remove barriers to work and help individuals realize their full potential.\u201d\n\n\u201cNobody wants to depend on the government\u2019s help, and this bill is a crucial step in modernizing the TANF program to ensure that we\u2019re helping families escape the cycle of poverty and equipping them for self-sufficiency,\u201d said Senator Daines. \u201cBy promoting work ethic and responsibility, we can cut straight to the root causes of economic disadvantage and child poverty, and our families will be far better off.\u201d\n\n\u201cModernizing our nation\u2019s welfare programs remains a top priority of the Ways and Means Committee,\u201d said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08). \u201cOur efforts are to focus on the needs of low-income families and holding accountable a bureaucracy that too often fails those it is meant to serve. Thanks to the collaborative work of our members \u2013 under the leadership of Work and Welfare Subcommittee Chairman LaHood \u2013 we are taking important steps toward a reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to ensure it directs critical resources toward those who are truly in need of assistance and helps lift more Americans out of poverty through work. The reforms provided for in the JOBS for Success Act will bring much needed transparency and accountability to TANF and protect against the waste, fraud, and abuse of American tax dollars so that resources are targeted toward solutions that help more Americans achieve economic independence and realize the dignity of work.\u201d\n\nBackground:\n\nThe JOBS for Success Act is comprised of seven member bills focused on reforming and modernizing TANF. This bill will reform the TANF program to ensure families utilizing this system receive the assistance, training, and services needed to connect them with jobs and succeed in the workforce.\n\nThe Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Department of Health and Human Services must do more to monitor the use of welfare funding under the TANF program by states, including strengthening the department\u2019s fraud risk management efforts to improve outreach and coordination, and establish better guidance to improve accountability.\n\nGAO\u2019s review found multiple areas in need of improvement and confirms that TANF non-assistance, which constitutes 78 percent of total spending, lacks basic financial guardrails, creating an environment ripe for waste, fraud, and abuse.\n\nGAO\u2019s analysis comes in response to a request by Rep. LaHood and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith as part of the committee\u2019s ongoing oversight of TANF.\n\nThe JOBS for Success Act is supported by:\n\nTaxpayers Protection Alliance: \u201cThe Taxpayers Protection Alliance applauds Sen. Daines and Rep. LaHood\u2019s leadership on reordering the incentives of, and bringing accountability to, the TANF program. Orienting federal payments programs towards employment \u2014 reinforcing the truth that dignified work is the ideal \u2014 is critical for reform. This tried and true method will be more cost effective and will help achieve the ultimate goal of these payments: getting Americans working and self-sufficient.\u201d\n\nNational Taxpayer Union: \u201cThe National Taxpayers Union is pleased to support JOBS for Success, which would preserve the ability of the federal government to provide a helping hand to vulnerable Americans, but now this hand would help citizens help themselves by reconnecting them to the labor market and ending generational cycles of poverty across the country,\u201d said David Timmons, CEO. \u201cThe ability to provide taxpayers some real savings is just icing on the cake.\u201d\n\nAmericans for Tax Reform: \"Over time, Congress has allowed TANF\u2019s work requirements to weaken, and many states have abdicated their statutory duty to encourage TANF recipients to find work. If the program\u2019s assistance is truly intended to be temporary, it is imperative that recipients are empowered to hone their skills and climb the economic ladder. Thankfully, Rep. LaHood and Senator Daines have introduced the JOBS for Success Act. This bill would restore accountability, requiring that all TANF recipients have a job, are actively looking for a job, or are giving back to their community via volunteer work. These reforms provide needed structure, requiring recipients to meet short and long-term career goals based on individualized plans built around their specific skill level and education. If lawmakers value restoring the dignity of work and ensuring stable employment for hundreds of thousands of Americans, they should support the JOBS for Success Act.\"\n\nAmericans for Prosperity\n\nClub for Growth\n\nCouncil for Citizens Against Government Waste\n\nRead a section-by-section description HERE.\n\nRead the full text of the bill HERE.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:20:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://lahood.house.gov/2025/5/lahood-daines-introduce-the-jobs-for-success-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9547527879476547, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}