Sponsors (4)
Introduced January 6, 2026 by Blake D. Moore · Last progress January 6, 2026
The bill creates a limited, federally supported path for States to pilot consolidated, coordinated anti-poverty programs with predictable funding and required evaluations—potentially improving work incentives and service integration—but at the risk of reduced benefit access for some participants, state-driven cuts or rule changes, limited geographic scale, and centralization that may weaken local control and tribal participation.
Low-income people in participating States gain access to coordinated 'Upward Mobility' pilots that pool SNAP, TANF, LIHEAP, WIOA, CDBG and other funds to provide more integrated anti-poverty services.
Participants in well-designed pilots may face lower marginal effective tax rates (fewer benefit cliffs), improving work incentives and potential earnings gains for families.
States running pilots receive predictable, multi-year grant and administrative funding (five-year guaranteed payments and proportional admin funding), helping them staff and sustain experimentation.
People enrolled in a State pilot are barred from receiving the same federal antipoverty program benefits outside the pilot during the pilot, which can reduce access to benefits for some participants.
States may opt to receive and operate on a reduced percentage of covered federal amounts (10–100%), which could lower benefits or services for participants compared with prior funding levels.
Mandated enforcement of work requirements and compliance measurement for pilots increases administrative burden and raises the risk that participants unable to meet work rules will lose benefits.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Consolidates multiple federal antipoverty funding streams under an HHS/ACF-led administration, lets States run pilots using those 'covered amounts,' and transfers related agency functions and admin funds to ACF.
Creates a new, HHS-led administrative structure to consolidate and manage certain federal antipoverty funds and to let States run pilot projects that bundle those funds. It defines which federal funding streams count as "covered amounts," moves specified administrative functions from other federal agencies into the Administration within HHS/ACF, and requires proportional transfers of administrative funding to support State pilots. The Secretary (HHS) and OMB get broad authority to transfer personnel, assets, rules, and unexpended balances to implement the consolidation.