Rep. Chu and California Colleagues Blast HHS for Cancelling California’s Safety Net Pilot, Jeopardizing Lifesaving Services for Vulnerable Children and Families

Members express outrage with Sec. Kennedy's decision: "We find it appalling that your Department appears willing to disregard California's duly- and fairly-awarded pilot, ignore the statute of a bipartisanly authorized program…and ultimately rip away a lifesaving safety net from our constituents, all in the name of funding Republicans' tax cuts for the wealthy."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Leading 27 of her Democratic California House colleagues, Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28) sent a lettertoday to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) expressing scathing opposition to the Trump Administration's recent cancellation of California's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) pilot award and alarm that this action clears the way for devastating cuts to TANF to pay for Congressional Republicans' tax giveaways for the ultra-wealthy in impending legislation.

The TANF pilot program, authorized by the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, is intended to address longstanding limitations in TANF by testing ways to better promote work and improve family outcomes. The state of California was selected in November 2024 as one of five pilot states after a thorough, objective process. However, in early March 2025, HHS abruptly cancelled California and the four other states' pilot awards and announced it would issue an entirely new solicitation for pilot proposals that better reflect the Trump administration's goals and priorities.

In the letter addressed to Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Members note that this decision has no statutory or policy justification: "Your March 7th cancellation letter to California claims that it is possible to change course because the state is only in its first half of the first year of the pilot-however, there is nothing in the FRA statute that allows a pilot to be revoked simply because it is in the first year. Additionally, your letter states that the projects selected, particularly related to "views on work, performance measures, and indicators of family stability and wellbeing," do not reflect your administration's goals and priorities. However, you fail to describe what specifically you find objectionable, so we can only infer that you disagree that indicators like job security, health insurance coverage, and stable housing are good benchmarks for family well-being-a position we find deeply troubling. Regardless, as the FRA statute requires pilot states and HHS to negotiate performance benchmarks for work and family outcomes, there is no statutory or policy justification for your administration to cancel the pilot awards altogether rather than negotiating such benchmarks in good faith."

As such, the Members note that revoking California's pilot award appears to be a political maneuver to clear the way for Congressional Republicans to make massive cuts to TANF in their upcoming tax giveaway for the ultra-wealthy.

"Included in the House Republicans' so-called "menu" of revenue raising policies for budget reconciliation is a proposal to make cuts to TANF over the next ten years by adjusting its work requirements," the Members explain. "We note that the only way to guarantee savings related to TANF work requirements would be to alter the WPR such that states are virtually guaranteed to fail, thereby triggering financial penalties. As California receives among the largest of TANF block grants, it's clear that California would need to remain subject to the WPR for the Republicans' plan to work. Of course, if it were still a pilot state, California would have been exempt from the WPR over the next six years as it tested alternative performance measures. If this is indeed your motivation, it represents an utterly shameful scheme to take money directly out of the pockets of among the most vulnerable families in California and hand it to the ultra-wealthy."

Click hereto access the full letter.