Sponsors (3)
The bill creates limited-state pilots to consolidate multiple antipoverty programs into flexible per‑person grants that could simplify benefits and boost work incentives for participants, but it restricts scope, may reduce access or equity across States, and imposes administrative and budgetary burdens that could deter participation and complicate implementation.
Low-income individuals and families (including parents) in participating States receive a consolidated per‑person Upward Mobility Grant that combines SNAP, TANF, child care, LIHEAP, housing, and other supports, simplifying access to benefits.
Participating States can design benefit structures to reduce benefit cliffs and lower Marginal Effective Tax Rates, which can encourage work and increase recipients' employment and earnings.
Pilot projects must include rigorous independent evaluation, producing evidence on which integrated approaches improve upward mobility and can inform broader federal and state policy decisions.
People enrolled in a State pilot cannot receive Federal antipoverty benefits outside the pilot during the pilot period, which could reduce access to existing program options for participants.
Consolidation and waiver authority may create significant variation in eligibility rules and benefit levels across States, producing unequal outcomes and administrative complexity for beneficiaries who move between States.
Capping the program to at most five pilot States restricts how many people can access consolidated benefits and delays the ability to scale successful models nationally.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Creates a framework to consolidate multiple federal anti‑poverty funding streams into flexible 'covered amounts,' enable state pilot transfers, and establish an Administration to manage transferred functions.
Introduced January 6, 2026 by Jon Husted · Last progress January 6, 2026
Consolidates several federal anti-poverty funding streams into a new “covered amount” concept, allows participating states to receive transferred funds and some administrative resources for pilot projects, and creates an Administration within HHS to receive transferred functions, personnel, assets, and unexpended balances needed to run the pilots. It sets definitions for which programs and payments qualify as covered amounts, requires covered federal agencies to make proportional transfers for administrative costs to participating states, and gives the new Administration authority to reorganize and execute transferred functions under federal personnel and rulemaking law.