[Excerpt] The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant was created in the 1996 welfare reform law (the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, P.L. 104-193). That law was the culmination of a series of legislative changes that altered the rules for providing benefits and services to needy families with children

Falk, Gene

English

[Excerpt] The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant was created in the 1996 welfare reform law (the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, P.L. 104-193). That law was the culmination of a series of legislative changes that altered the rules for providing benefits and services to needy families with children.CRS_IF_TANF_Block_Grant_0219.pdf: 78 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

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The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant

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2-8-2019 
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant 
Gene Falk 
Congressional Research Service 
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The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant 
Abstract 
[Excerpt] The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant was created in the 1996 
welfare reform law (the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, P.L. 
104-193). That law was the culmination of a series of legislative changes that altered the rules for 
providing benefits and services to needy families with children. 
Comments 
Suggested Citation 
Falk, G. (2019). The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant (CRS In Focus IFI0036). 
Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. 
This article is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/key_workplace/2101 
www.crs.gov  |  7-5700 
 
 
 
Updated February 8, 2019
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) 
Block Grant
Introduction 
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) 
block grant was created in the 1996 welfare reform law (the 
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity 
Reconciliation Act of 1996, P.L. 104-193). That law was 
the culmination of a series of legislative changes that 
altered the rules for providing benefits and services to 
needy families with children.  
Brief History 
Public cash assistance to needy families with children has 
its origin in the early 1900s state and locally financed 
“mother’s pension” programs that aided single mothers 
(often widows) so that children could be raised in their own 
homes rather than institutionalized. The Social Security Act 
of 1935 provided federal funding for these programs with 
the explicit goal to aid mothers so they would not have to 
work and could stay home to raise their children. 
Post-1935 changes altered the context in which programs 
for needy families with children operated. In 1939, 
survivors’ benefits were added to Social Security, providing 
benefits to widows and their children. The increase in labor 
force participation among married mothers altered views 
about whether government should aid single mothers to stay 
at home. Families with children whose fathers were alive 
but absent comprised more of the public cash assistance 
caseload. The caseload also became more nonwhite. Cash 
assistance to needy families with children became among 
the most controversial of social programs, particularly 
beginning in the late 1960s as the cash assistance caseload 
had its first large increase. “Welfare reform” was debated 
across four decades, ultimately leading to the 1996 welfare 
reform law. 
The TANF Block Grant 
The TANF block grant’s overall purpose is to “increase the 
flexibility of states” to meet four statutory goals: 
(1) provide assistance to needy families so that children 
may remain in their homes; (2) reduce dependency of needy 
parents on government benefits through work, job 
preparation, and marriage; (3) reduce out-of-wedlock 
pregnancies; and (4) promote the formation and 
maintenance of two-parent families. The 1996 welfare 
reform law and the creation of TANF altered the federal 
rules that applied to states for their cash assistance 
programs. It also established a broad-based block grant that 
provides funds to states to address both the effects and root 
causes of childhood economic disadvantage. 
Federal Grants and State Funds 
TANF provides grants to the 50 states, District of 
Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. 
American Indian tribes may also operate their own TANF 
programs with federal dollars. The bulk of TANF funding is 
in a basic block grant of $16.5 billion per year. Every year, 
each state receives a fixed grant based on how much it 
received in federal funding in the pre-1996 cash assistance 
and related programs during the early- and mid-1990s. 
Tribes also may receive grants based on mid-1990s 
expenditures.  
The TANF block grant has not been increased since the 
enactment of the 1996 welfare law. There has been no 
adjustment for inflation. During TANF’s history, states 
have at times received TANF funds in addition to the basic 
block grant. For FY2019, the only additional funding to 
states for TANF is through the TANF contingency fund. 
In addition to federal funding, states are required to expend 
a minimum amount of their own funds on the TANF-related 
population and TANF-related programs (a total $10.3 
billion per year, though some states expend more than the 
minimum). This amount is also based on historical 
expenditures in pre-TANF programs and is known as the 
“maintenance of effort” (MOE) requirement.  
Use of TANF Funds 
States may use federal block grant and MOE funds in any 
manner that is “reasonably calculated” to achieve TANF’s 
statutory purpose and goals. States have used TANF funds 
for a wide range of benefits and services. In FY2017, a total 
of $31.1 billion was spent by states from federal TANF and 
state MOE funds. TANF assistance, which includes the 
monthly cash benefits often called “welfare,” totaled $7.1 
billion, which was 23% of total TANF federal and state 
MOE funds. In addition to assistance, TANF contributes to 
state funds used for work and training programs, child care, 
pre-kindergarten programs, programs to provide services to 
children who have been abused and neglected or are at risk 
of it, and other services (youth activities, responsible 
fatherhood and healthy marriage promotion). 
Figure 1. Uses of Federal TANF and State MOE Funds 
by Category: FY2017 
 
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from 
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant 
www.crs.gov  |  7-5700 
State TANF Cash Assistance Programs 
Federal law requires that a family aided by TANF cash 
assistance have a dependent child, and limits federally 
funded aid to families with an adult recipient to five years. 
States set most TANF rules that apply to recipient families. 
States determine the TANF benefit amounts. In July 2017, 
the maximum monthly benefit for a single-parent family of 
three ranged from $1,021 in New Hampshire to $170 in 
Mississippi. There is a regional pattern to these maximum 
benefits; they are lowest in the South.  
Figure 2. Maximum Monthly TANF Cash Assistance 
Benefit by State, July 2017 
For a Single-Parent Family with Two Children 
 
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from 
the Urban Institute’s Welfare Rules database. 
Trends in the Assistance Caseload 
In September 2018, a total of 1.2 million families received 
TANF assistance. This compares with the historical peak in 
receipt of assistance under TANF’s predecessor program in 
March 1994 of 5.1 million families. The number of families 
that received assistance in September 2018 is the lowest 
since February 1967. 
Figure 3. Number of Families Receiving Assistance, 
1959-2018 
 
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from 
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 
Most of the post-1994 decline in the cash assistance 
caseload resulted from a reduction in the share of eligible 
families receiving benefits, rather than a reduction in the 
number of families meeting states’ definitions of being a 
needy family. In 1995, an estimated 82% of families 
eligible for cash assistance actually received benefits; in 
2015, an estimated 27% of families that met states’ 
eligibility requirements actually received benefits (See CRS 
In Focus IF10889, Temporary Assistance for Needy 
Families: The Decline in the Cash Assistance Caseload.) 
Work Requirements 
Current TANF rules for engagement of assistance recipients 
in work fall within the context of meeting the minimum 
work participation rate (WPR). The minimum WPR is a 
performance standard for the state; it does not apply 
directly to individual recipients. States that do not meet the 
minimum WPR are at risk of a reduction in their federal 
TANF funds.  
To meet the current TANF work participation standard, 
states must have 50% of “all families” and 90% of families 
with two parents either working or engaged in activities. A 
state may lower these percentages by reducing its caseload. 
There are rules for what activities count, and minimum 
hours per week of participation required, for a family to be 
counted by the state toward meeting its minimum WPR. 
Work in an unsubsidized job and participation in job 
preparation activities count toward meeting the standard. 
In FY2017, all but two jurisdictions (Guam and Nevada) 
had a sufficient share of their caseload either working or 
engaged in activities to meet TANF’s “all families” work 
standard. Nine jurisdictions failed the two-parent standard. 
States that met their work standard generally did so through 
caseload reduction and aiding families who were already 
working, rather than engaging unemployed recipients in 
activities. (See CRS In Focus IF10856, Temporary 
Assistance for Needy Families: Work Requirements.) TANF 
provides assistance to working families either in regular 
state assistance programs for those with earnings low 
enough to still qualify, or in special programs designed to 
provide “earnings supplements” to low-income working 
parents who have either left regular assistance programs or, 
in some states, to families without requiring a prior 
connection to TANF cash benefits. 
Issues 
Issues that have been raised in recent discussions of TANF 
include the following:  
 Should TANF funding levels or allocation of funds to 
the states be altered?   
 Should TANF dollars support the broad range of 
activities currently allowable or should they be focused 
on cash assistance and supporting work? 
 Is a sufficient percentage of the caseload engaged in 
work activities? Do current rules provide sufficient 
incentive for states to innovate and adopt promising 
practices in moving cash assistance recipients to work? 
 Should states be encouraged to integrate and coordinate 
TANF with other need-based programs? 
Gene Falk, gfalk@crs.loc.gov, 7-7344 
IF10036 


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