This bill creates a 5-year pilot program called Upward Mobility Grants. Up to five States may apply to combine (consolidate) certain Federal antipoverty funds into a single grant to run a pilot project. Covered funds include amounts tied to nutrition benefits (SNAP), temporary assistance for needy families (TANF), child care block grant funds, low-income energy assistance (LIHEAP), some workforce assistance, and certain housing program funds. Grants are sized using the State’s covered amounts from the prior year adjusted by a price index and are paid quarterly (25% each quarter). States may request waivers of many program rules to redesign eligibility, benefit structures, and delivery, but waivers may not affect civil rights, health and safety, labor standards, immigration restrictions on benefits, certain appropriations limits, maintenance-of-effort rules, or requirements that funds be passed to sub-State entities. Funds tied to certain housing programs must continue to be provided to the same local entities or recipients as under current law. During a pilot, a participating State generally will not receive separate Federal funding for the included antipoverty programs outside the pilot, though the bill allows emergency or contingency funds from Federal reserves in specific events. The bill requires annual, independent third-party evaluations that measure Marginal Effective Tax Rates and employment and earnings outcomes, reductions in per-capita direct assistance, marriage penalties, and poverty among participants. The Secretary of HHS (through the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families) runs the pilot program, and the bill transfers some related administrative functions to that Administration.
No publicly available information on total federal cost or estimated budget effects is included in the bill text. The bill does describe how grant amounts are calculated and paid: the first-year grant equals the State’s covered amounts from the prior fiscal year adjusted by the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index. Later years are adjusted by that index and by a prohibition on increases tied to raising per-capita direct assistance. Grants are payable in quarterly installments (25% each quarter). For limited-scope pilots a State may request between 10% and 100% of the otherwise calculated grant. The bill also directs covered Federal agencies to transfer administrative funding to participating States in proportion to prior nonadministrative funding, but it does not provide a total appropriation amount in the text.
The bill states its purposes are to streamline service delivery, reduce inconsistent eligibility rules and "benefit cliffs," promote upward mobility through improved employment and earnings, and provide incentives for States to reduce dependence on per-capita direct assistance by allowing flexible, consolidated grants and redesigned benefit structures. The bill also emphasizes rigorous evaluation to measure whether the pilot improves employment outcomes and reduces reliance on direct benefits.
No publicly available information.