Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Jan 22, 2024

This bill prohibits the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing a proposed rule that would require states to justify TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) expenditures as reasonably accomplishing a TANF purpose. The bill creates an exception preventing ACF from applying this justification standard to state spending on pregnancy centers that support protecting the life of the mother and unborn child and offer services such as relationship counseling, prenatal education, pregnancy testing, and material support. The proposed rule that would be blocked states that TANF spending on pregnancy counseling programs serving only women already pregnant would not meet a reasonableness standard for the purpose of preventing and reducing out-of-wedlock pregnancies.

AI summaries currently cover bills with verified final-passage votes.

Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act 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. 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. 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. 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.