The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides grants to states, Indian tribes, and territories for a wide range of benefits, services, and activities that address economic disadvantage. TANF is best known for funding state cash welfare programs for low-income families with children. It was created in the 1996 welfare reform law (The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, P.L. 104-193), replacing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) cash welfare program and several related programs. However, in FY2009, cash welfare represented only 28% of TANF funds. TANF funds a wide range of activities that seek to both ameliorate the effects and address the root causes of child poverty. In addition to state block grants, TANF includes competitive grants to fund healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood initiatives.
Federal TANF law is Title IV-A of the Social Security Act. At the federal level, TANF is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). However, benefits and services are provided by the states, territories, and tribes. TANF programs operate in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. American Samoa is eligible to operate a TANF program, but has not opted to do so.
The 1996 welfare reform law provided funding for TANF through FY2002. Subsequent to that, TANF was continued through a series of temporary extensions until enactment of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA, P.L. 109-171). The DRA funded TANF through FY2010. A one-year extension of TANF, through the end of FY2011, was included in the Claims Resolution Act of 2011 (P.L. 111-291). A subsequent three- month extension of TANF (P.L. 112-35) was enacted for the first quarter of FY2012.
This chapter of the Green Book includes a Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report detailing the financing and federal rules regarding the TANF block grant. It is followed by a section of Tables and Figures that includes tables on TANF expenditures and unspent grant funds, the cash assistance caseload, characteristics of the cash assistance caseload, TANF cash assistance benefits, and work participation rates among cash assistance recipients. It concludes with a Legislative History of TANF and Links to Additional Resources, which include a set of links to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) web sites and research organizations for additional information about TANF.
The House Ways and Means Committee is making available selected reports by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) for inclusion in its 2011 Green Book website. CRS works exclusively for the United State Congress, providing policy and legal analysis to Committees and Members of both the House and Senate, regardless of party affiliation.
The following figure and tables provide information on how states have used their TANF funds. They provide information for or (in the case of historical tables) through Fiscal Year 2009.
Figure 7-1.Federal TANF and State MOE Funds Used in FY2009, By Major Benefit and Service Category
Table 7-1. Use of TANF and State Maintenance of Effort Funds: FY2009
Table 7-4. Federal TANF and MOE Child Care Expenditures and Transfers: FY1997-FY2009
Table 7-5. Use of FY2009 TANF and MOE Funds by Category and State
Table 7-7. Unspent TANF Grants: FY1997 through FY2009
Table 7-8. Unspent TANF Grants by State: FY2009
The following figure and tables provide information on the cash assistance caseload under TANF and its predecessor program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).
Figure 7.2. Number of Families Receiving Cash Assistance
Table 7-9. Trends in the Cash Assistance Caseload: 1961 to 2010
Table 7-10. TANF Cash Assistance Families by Type: 1998 through 2010
The following tables provide information on the characteristics of the cash assistance caseload under TANF in FY2009, often comparing the characteristics of the cash assistance caseload in FY2009 with earlier years under AFDC. Additional state-by-state detail on the characteristics of families and persons receiving TANF cash assistance can be found on the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance web site referenced in the Links to Additional Resources section of this chapter.
Table 7-15. AFDC and TANF Cash Assistance Caseload, By Family Type, Selected Years, FY1988-FY2009
Table 7-16. TANF Cash Assistance Families, By Family Type and State, FY2009
Table 7-21. TANF Cash Welfare Families, By Family Type and Age of Youngest Child, FY2009
The following tables provide cash assistance benefit amounts by state. Additional information on the rules that apply in cash assistance programs (e.g. asset limits, earnings eligibility limits, earnings disregards, and sanction policy) can be found in the Urban Institute’s Welfare Rules Database on the Urban Institute’s web site, referenced in the Links to Additional Resources section of this chapter.
Table 7-23. Maximum Monthly TANF Cash Benefit Amounts, By Family Size and State, July 2009
Table 7-25. Combined TANF Maximum Cash and SNAP Benefits for a Family of Three, By State, July 2009
The following tables provide information about work participation rates in TANF cash assistance programs. Additional state-by-state detail on work participation rates and work activities can be found on the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance web site referenced in the Links to Additional Resources section of this chapter.
Table 7-26. TANF Work Participation Rates, U.S. Average, FY1997 through FY2009
Table 7-27. TANF Work Participation Rates by State, FY2009
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P.L. 104-193, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act established the block grant of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Appropriated funds for the block grant through FY2002. August 22, 1996.
P.L. 105-33, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, raised the cap limiting the counting of vocational educational training and teen parents engaged in education from 20 percent of those considered engaged in work to 30 percent of those considered engaged in work, and temporarily removed from that cap teen parents through FY1999; set the maximum allowable TANF transfer to Title XX social services at 10 percent of the block grant (rather than one-third of total transfers); and made technical corrections to P.L. 104-193. P.L. 105-33 also established the $3 billion over two-years (FY1998 and FY1999) Welfare-to-Work (WTW) grant program within TANF, but administered by the Department of Labor at the Federal level, with local administration by State workforce investment boards and competitive grantees. August 5, 1997.
P.L.. 105-89, the Adoption and Safe Families Act, reduced the contingency fund appropriation by $40 million. November 19, 1997.
P.L. 105-220, the Transportation Act for the 21st Century, permitted the use of Federal TANF funds to be used as matching funds for reverse commuter grants.
P.L. 106-113, the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2000, broadened eligibility for recipients to be served by the WTW grant program and added limited authority for vocational educational or job training to be WTW activities. November 29, 1999.
P.L. 106-554, the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2001, gave grantees two more years to spend WTW grant funds (a total of five years from the date of the grant award).
P.L. 107-147, the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act, extended supplemental grants and contingency funds, both of which had expired on September 30, 2001, through FY2002. (Supplemental grants were extended at FY2001 levels). March 9, 2002.
P.L. 107-229 extended TANF basic grants, supplemental grants, bonus funds, and contingency funds (and other related programs) through December 20, 2002 . September 30, 2002. Other “temporary extensions” of TANF grants were made in: P.L. 107-294, through March 30, 2003 (November 22, 2002); P.L. 108-7, through June 30, 2003 (February 20, 2003); P.L. 108-40, through September 30, 2003 (June 30, 2003); P.L. 108-89, through March 31, 2004 (October 1, 2003); P.L. 108-210, through June 30, 2004 (March 31, 2004); P.L. 108-262, through September 30, 2004 (June 30, 2004); P.L. 108-308, through March 31, 2005 (September 30, 2004); P.L. 109-4, through June 30, 2005 (March 25, 2005); and P.L. 109-19, through September 30, 2005 (July 1, 2005).
P.L. 108-199 rescinded all remaining unspent WTW formula grant funds, effectively ending the WTW grant program. January 23, 2004.
P.L. 109-68 provided extra funding to help States provide benefits to families affected by Hurricane Katrina, allowing States to draw upon contingency funds to assist those displaced by the hurricane; allowing directly affected States to receive funds from the loan fund, with repayment of the loan forgiven; and suspending penalties for failure to meet certain requirements for States directly affected by the hurricane. Also, temporarily extended TANF grants through December 30, 2005. September 21, 2005.
P.L. 109-161 extended TANF grants through March 30, 2006. December 30, 2005.
P.L. 109-171, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, extended most TANF grants through FY2010 (supplemental grants expire at the end of FY2008); eliminated TANF bonus funds; established competitive grants within TANF for healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood initiatives; revised the caseload reduction. February 8, 2006.
P.L. 110-275 included an extension of TANF supplemental grants through the end of FY2009. July 15, 2008.
P.L. 111-5, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, established a $5 billion Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF) to reimburse states for increased costs associated with the 2007-9 recession for FY2009 and FY2010. The fund reimbursed states, territories, and tribes for 80% of the increased costs of basic assistance, non-recurrent short-term benefits, and subsidized employment. The law also permitted states to “freeze” caseload reduction credits at pre-recession levels, allowed states to use TANF reserve funds for any benefit or service (before it was restricted to assistance), and extended supplemental grants through the end of FY2010. February 17, 2009.
P.L. 111-242, the first continuing appropriations resolution for FY2011, extended TANF funding through Dec. 3, 2010. September 30, 2010. P.L. 111-290, the second continuing resolution, continued TANF funding authority through December 18, 2010. December 4, 2010.
P.L. 111-291, the Claims Resolution Act of 2010, extended basic TANF funding through the end of FY2011, September 30, 2011, but reduced funding and provided supplemental grants only through June 30, 2011. Also required some additional reporting on work activities and TANF expenditures. December 8, 2010.
P.L. 112-35, the Short-Term TANF Extension Act, extended basic TANF funding for three month, through December 31, 2011. No funding was provided for supplemental grants. September 30, 2011.
Federal TANF Law (Note: Title IV-A, Sections 401-419 comprise TANF).
https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title04/0400.htm
Department of Health and Human Services Sites:
Office of Family Assistance (OFA) of the Administration for Children and Families. The office administers TANF, and its site includes policy documents and program data:
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/
Office of Policy Research and Evaluation (OPRE) of the Administration for Children and Families. This office funds research related to programs administered within the Administration for Children and Families. It has a site devoted to research on welfare and self-sufficiency issues:
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/index.html
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). This office also funds research projects and maintains a web page on welfare and self-sufficiency issues:
https://aspe.hhs.gov/_/topic/topic.cfm?topic=Welfare,%20Work,%20and%20Self-Sufficiency
MDRC has a long history of evaluating social programs, particularly welfare-to-work initiatives.
Mathematica Policy Research also has a long history of program evaluations, including welfare-to-work programs.
https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/
The Urban Institute produces studies on the low-income population, including those receiving cash assistance. It is also the home of the Welfare Rules Database: