I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 922
To provide targeted funding for States and other eligible entities through
the Social Services Block Grant program to increase the availability
of menstrual products for individuals with limited access to such prod-
ucts.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY4, 2025
Mr. C
ASTEN(for himself, Ms. MENG, Ms. STANSBURY, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms.
D
EANof Pennsylvania, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. NORTON, Ms.
M
OOREof Wisconsin, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. WATSON
C
OLEMAN, Mr. TORRESof New York, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. GOTTHEIMER,
Mrs. M
CIVER, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Mr. TONKO, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms.
W
ASSERMANSCHULTZ, Ms. CLARKEof New York, Ms. TOKUDA, Mrs.
H
AYES, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. CROCKETT, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Ms. SCHA-
KOWSKY, Ms. LEEof Pennsylvania, and Mr. GARCI´Aof Illinois) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways
and Means, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To provide targeted funding for States and other eligible
entities through the Social Services Block Grant program
to increase the availability of menstrual products for
individuals with limited access to such products.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Period PROUD (Pro-2
viding Resources for Our Underserved and Disadvan-3
taged) Act of 2025’’. 4
SEC. 2. TARGETED FUNDING FOR MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS 5
THROUGH THE SOCIAL SERVICES BLOCK 6
GRANT PROGRAM. 7
(a) I
NCREASE INFUNDING FORSOCIALSERVICES 8
B
LOCKGRANTPROGRAM.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The amount specified in 10
subsection (c) of section 2003 of the Social Security 11
Act (42 U.S.C. 1397b) for purposes of subsections 12
(a) and (b) of such section is deemed to be 13
$1,900,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 14
through 2028, of which the amount equal to 15
$200,000,000, reduced by the amounts reserved 16
under paragraph (2)(B) for each such fiscal year, 17
shall be obligated by States in accordance with sub-18
section (b). 19
(2) A
PPROPRIATION.— 20
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Out of any money in 21
the Treasury of the United States not otherwise 22
appropriated, there is appropriated 23
$200,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 24
through 2029, to carry out this section. 25
(B) R
ESERVATIONS.— 26
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•HR 922 IH
(i) PURPOSES.—The Secretary shall 1
reserve, from the amount appropriated 2
under subparagraph (A) to carry out this 3
section— 4
(I) for each of fiscal years 2026 5
through 2029, not more than 2 per-6
cent of the amount appropriated for 7
the fiscal year for purposes of enter-8
ing into an agreement with an eligible 9
entity described in subparagraph (C) 10
to assist in providing technical assist-11
ance and training, to support effective 12
policy, practice, research, and cross- 13
system collaboration among grantees 14
and subgrantees, and to assist in the 15
administration of the program de-16
scribed in this section; and 17
(II) for fiscal year 2026, an 18
amount, not to exceed $2,000,000, for 19
purposes of conducting an evaluation 20
under subsection (d). 21
(ii) N
O STATE ENTITLEMENT TO RE -22
SERVED FUNDS .—The State entitlement 23
under section 2002(a) of the Social Secu-24
rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1397a(a)) shall not 25
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•HR 922 IH
apply to the amounts reserved under clause 1
(i). 2
(C) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY DESCRIBED .—An el-3
igible entity described in this subparagraph is a 4
nonprofit organization described in section 5
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 6
and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) 7
of such Code, that— 8
(i) has experience in the area of com-9
munity distributions of basic need services, 10
including experience collecting, 11
warehousing, and distributing basic neces-12
sities such as menstrual products; 13
(ii) demonstrates competency to im-14
plement a project, provide fiscal account-15
ability, collect data, and prepare reports 16
and other necessary documentation; and 17
(iii) demonstrates a willingness to 18
share information with researchers, practi-19
tioners, and other interested parties. 20
(b) R
ULESGOVERNING USE OF ADDITIONAL 21
F
UNDS.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Funds are used in accord-23
ance with this subsection if— 24
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•HR 922 IH
(A) the State, in consultation with relevant 1
stakeholders, including agencies, professional 2
associations, and nonprofit organizations, dis-3
tributes the funds to eligible entities to— 4
(i) decrease the unmet need for men-5
strual products by low-income menstru-6
ating individuals through— 7
(I) the distribution of free men-8
strual products; 9
(II) community outreach to assist 10
in participation in existing menstrual 11
product distribution programs; or 12
(III) improving access to men-13
strual products among low-income in-14
dividuals; and 15
(ii) increase the ability of communities 16
and low-income families in such commu-17
nities to provide for the need for menstrual 18
products of low-income adults; 19
(B) the funds are used subject to the limi-20
tations in section 2005 of the Social Security 21
Act (42 U.S.C. 1397d); and 22
(C) the funds are used to supplement, and 23
not supplant funds that are or have been made 24
available from Federal, State, local, or philan-25
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•HR 922 IH
thropic sources to carry out subtitle A of title 1
XX of such Act. 2
(2) A
LLOWABLE USES BY ELIGIBLE ENTI -3
TIES.— 4
(A) I
N GENERAL.—An eligible entity re-5
ceiving funds made available under subsection 6
(a) shall use the funds for any of the following: 7
(i) To pay for the purchase of men-8
strual products by, and the distribution of 9
menstrual products among low-income in-10
dividuals. 11
(ii) To integrate activities carried out 12
under subparagraph (A) with other basic 13
needs assistance programs serving low-in-14
come families, including the following: 15
(I) Programs funded by the tem-16
porary assistance for needy families 17
program under part A of title IV of 18
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 19
601 et seq.), including the State 20
maintenance of effort provisions of 21
such program. 22
(II) Programs designed to sup-23
port the health of eligible children, 24
such as the Children’s Health Insur-25
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•HR 922 IH
ance Program under title XXI of the 1
Social Security Act, the Medicaid pro-2
gram under title XIX of such Act, or 3
State funded health care programs. 4
(III) Programs funded through 5
the special supplemental nutrition 6
program for women, infants, and chil-7
dren under section 17 of the Child 8
Nutrition Act of 1966. 9
(IV) Programs that offer early 10
home visiting services, including the 11
maternal, infant, and early childhood 12
home visiting program (including the 13
Tribal home visiting program) under 14
section 511 of the Social Security Act 15
(42 U.S.C. 711). 16
(iii) To provide training or technical 17
assistance in carrying out activities under 18
this section. 19
(iv) To cover administrative costs. 20
(B) L
IMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR 21
ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—An eligible entity re-22
ceiving funds made available under this section 23
shall not use more than 9 percent of the funds 24
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for administrative costs incurred pursuant to 1
this section. 2
(C) N
O LIMITS ON WHERE MENSTRUAL 3
PRODUCTS MAY BE DISTRIBUTED .—The Sec-4
retary may not limit the locations at which 5
menstrual products may be distributed pursu-6
ant to this section. 7
(3) A
VAILABILITY OF FUNDS.— 8
(A) F
UNDS DISTRIBUTED TO ELIGIBLE 9
ENTITIES.—Funds made available under sub-10
section (a) that are distributed to an eligible en-11
tity by a State for a fiscal year may be ex-12
pended by the eligible entity only in such fiscal 13
year or the succeeding fiscal year. 14
(B) E
VALUATION.—Funds reserved under 15
subsection (a)(2)(B)(i)(II) to carry out the eval-16
uation under subsection (d) shall be available 17
for expenditure through September 30, 2028. 18
(4) N
O EFFECT ON OTHER PROGRAMS .—Any 19
assistance or benefits received by a family through 20
funds made available under subsection (a) shall be 21
disregarded for purposes of determining the family’s 22
eligibility for, or amount of, benefits under any other 23
Federal needs-based programs. 24
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(c) ANNUALREPORTS.—Section 2004 of the Social 1
Security Act shall apply with respect to payments made 2
to a State under this section in the same way it applies 3
with respect to payments made to a State under section 4
2002 of such Act. 5
(d) E
VALUATION.—The Secretary, in consultation 6
with States and the eligible entities described in subsection 7
(a)(2)(C) receiving funds made available under this sec-8
tion, shall— 9
(1) not later than December 30, 2031, complete 10
an evaluation of the effectiveness of the assistance 11
program carried out pursuant to this section, such 12
as the effect of activities carried out under this Act 13
on mitigating the health risks of unmet menstrual 14
products need among individuals in low-income fami-15
lies; 16
(2) not later than March 31, 2032, submit to 17
the Committees on Energy and Commerce and on 18
Ways and Means of the House of Representatives 19
and the Committee on Finance of the Senate a re-20
port on the results of the evaluation; and 21
(3) not later than April 30, 2032, publish the 22
results of the evaluation on the internet website of 23
the Department of Health and Human Services. 24
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(e) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 180 days after the 1
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue 2
guidance regarding how the provisions of this section 3
should be carried out, including information regarding eli-4
gible entities, allowable use of funds, and reporting re-5
quirements. 6
(f) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
(1) M
ENSTRUAL PRODUCTS .—The term ‘‘men-8
strual products’’ means menstrual cups, menstrual 9
discs, menstrual underwear, and sanitary napkins 10
and tampons, that conform to applicable industry 11
standards. 12
(2) E
LIGIBLE ENTITIES.—The term ‘‘eligible 13
entity’’ means a State or local governmental entity, 14
an Indian tribe or tribal organization (as defined in 15
section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-16
cation Assistance Act), or a nonprofit organization 17
described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Rev-18
enue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under 19
section 501(a) of such Code that— 20
(A) has experience in the area of commu-21
nity distributions of basic need services, includ-22
ing experience collecting, warehousing, and dis-23
tributing basic necessities such as diapers, food, 24
or menstrual products; 25
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•HR 922 IH
(B) demonstrates competency to implement 1
a project, provide fiscal accountability, collect 2
data, and prepare reports and other necessary 3
documentation; and 4
(C) demonstrates a willingness to share in-5
formation with researchers, practitioners, and 6
other interested parties. 7
(3) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 8
the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 9
(4) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean-10
ing given in section 1101(a)(1) of the Social Secu-11
rity Act for purposes of title XX of such Act. 12
(g) L
IMITATION ONAUTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIA-13
TIONS.—For the administration of this section, there are 14
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary not more 15
than $6,000,000 for fiscal years 2026 through 2029. 16
(h) E
XEMPTIONFROMSEQUESTRATION.—Funds 17
made available to carry out this section shall be exempt 18
from reduction under any order issued under the Balanced 19
Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. 20
Æ
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