Golden Fleece Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman French Hill (AR-02) named the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as the latest recipient of the Golden Fleece Award for allowing improper payments to states for enrollees that do not meet Congressionally mandated Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) requirements.

"Historical data proves that the most effective way for Americans to lift themselves out of poverty is by securing a stable job," said Congressman Hill. "TANF has served as an important program that helps accomplish this goal and empowers families to get back on the path to prosperity. However, too often individual states have been able to game the system and receive more TANF funds than mandated by law. This failure by HHS to provide proper oversight of state TANF requirements prevents these resources from going to families in other states who desperately need them. I call on HHS Secretary Azar to work with Congress to correct this problem so that TANF can continue to properly serve families in Arkansas and across the country."


In a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, Congressman Hill wrote:

Dear Secretary Azar:

I write today to inform you that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the most recent recipient of my Golden Fleece Award for a lack of transparency and for improper payments to states for enrollees that do not meet Congressionally mandated Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) requirements.

According to data from HHS and analysis by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), only a small number of non-employed TANF recipients are engaged in work-related or training activities within a given month. This is despite clearly outlined work requirements in the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (P.L. 104-193).

In addition to misuse within the caseload reduction credit system, I am particularly concerned with the practice of counting the unsubsidized employment in “earnings supplement programs” toward a given state’s work participation rate (WPR). Specific examples of these programs include paying out benefits to parents who are (1) no longer eligible for TANF; and (2) not connected to TANF but are still counted toward the WPR.

I find it disturbing that these “earnings supplement programs” are often operated separately from a state’s accepted TANF services but are being used to augment a state’s WPR, thereby enabling states to avoid a penalty that would reduce their block grant allotments. According to CRS, nearly all WPR increases since FY2012 have been a result of unsubsidized employment in earnings supplement programs and have not come from actually putting people to work.

As you are aware, the intent of Congress when implementing TANF was to provide states flexibility in administering this program, but also to move eligible parents into work and stability. This intent was reinforced in 2006 with the Deficit Reduction Act (P.L. 109-171), which attempted to close some of the loopholes surrounding WPR. Instead, practices such as the ones outlined in this letter allow states to distract from the glaring fact that they are not abiding by Congressional intent in moving people from welfare to work, but merely blurring the lines to make it appear that they are acting within the mission of the program. In this deception, HHS has been complicit, facilitating states in “hitting the target, but missing the point.”

When our nation is more than $22 trillion in debt, our federal agencies must be good stewards of taxpayers’ dollars. Should you require any additional authority from Congress to address these concerns, I urge you to notify us as soon as possible. I thank you for your consideration and look forward to working with you to address this important issue.


Sincerely,
French Hill
Member of Congress


About the Golden Fleece Award
Every year, Congress appropriates trillions of dollars to fund the federal government, and every year the federal government wastes portions of these funds in unconscionable ways. In an attempt to increase accountability for every single government program, Congressman Hill decided to bring back the Golden Fleece Award.

Originally introduced by Democratic U.S. Senator from Wisconsin William Proxmire in March 1975, the Golden Fleece Award was a monthly bulletin on the most frivolous and wasteful uses of hardworking taxpayers’ dollars. The Golden Fleece Award became a staple in the U.S. Senate during this time, and Senator Robert Byrd once stated that the awards were “as much a part of the Senate as quorum calls and filibusters.”

In reviving this idea, the Golden Fleece Award will again have the opportunity to serve as an important reminder to taxpayers about the need for necessary, commonsense reforms to our federal spending.