GAO tells House panel that TANF oversight gaps and fraud risks put billions at stake

At a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing, Government Accountability Office officials told members that long‑standing weaknesses in oversight and state reporting have left large portions of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding difficult to track and exposed some funds to fraud and misuse.

The GAO said non‑assistance spending (services such as child care, job training and child welfare supports) has grown while reporting and audit resolution have lagged. "Non assistance spending accounted for about 44% of state's total spending" in fiscal year 2022, Jeffrey Arkin, Director of GAO's Strategic Issues Team, told the committee. He added that states' unspent federal TANF balances rose from about $4,000,000,000 at the end of FY2015 to about $10,000,000,000 in FY2023.

GAO's findings matter because TANF is a major source of flexible funding that many states use to finance child welfare, child care and workforce programs. Without clearer reporting, the federal agency charged with oversight — the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — has limited visibility into who gets funded and whether programs achieve intended outcomes.

GAO and subcommittee members pointed to three categories of problems: incomplete state reporting on non‑assistance spending, persistent and sometimes long‑running single‑audit findings, and gaps in fraud‑risk management. "Some states did not include the required narrative" in their TANF expenditure reports, Arkin said, and GAO recommended that HHS require more-complete reporting within its existing authority and seek expanded statutory authority from Congress where…