January 6, 2015
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
Block Grant
Introduction
The TANF Block Grant
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
The TANF block grant’s overall purpose is to “increase the
block grant was created in the 1996 welfare reform law (the
flexibility of states” to meet four statutory goals:
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
(1) provide assistance to needy families so that children
Reconciliation Act of 1996, P.L. 104-193). That law
may remain in their homes; (2) reduce dependency of needy
culminated a series of legislative changes that altered the
parents on government benefits through work, job
rules for providing benefits and services to needy families
preparation, and marriage; (3) reduce out-of-wedlock
with children.
pregnancies; and (4) promote the formation and
maintenance of two-parent families. The 1996 welfare
Brief History
reform law and the creation of TANF altered the federal
rules that applied to states for their cash assistance
Public cash assistance to needy families with children has
programs. It also established a broad-based block grant that
its origin in the early 1900s state and locally financed
provides funds to states to address both the effects and root
“mother’s pension” programs that aided single mothers
causes of childhood economic disadvantage.
(often widows) so that children could be raised in their own
homes rather than institutionalized. The Social Security Act
Federal Grants and State Funds
of 1935 provided federal funding for these programs with
the explicit goal to aid mothers so they would not have to
The bulk of TANF funding is in a basic $16.5 billion per
work and could stay home to raise their children.
year block grant to the states. Every year, each state
receives a fixed grant based on how much it received in
Post-1935 changes altered the context in which programs
federal funding in the pre-1996 cash assistance and related
for needy families with children operated. In 1939,
programs during the early- and mid-1990s. The amount of
survivors benefits were added to Social Security, providing
the basic block grant—and its distribution among the
benefits to widows and their children. Families with
states—has not been adjusted for changes since the 1990s,
children whose father was alive but absent comprised more
such as inflation, which erodes the purchasing power of the
of the public cash assistance caseload. The caseload also
block grant; changes in the cash assistance caseload; or
became more nonwhite. The increase in labor force
changes in the child poverty population. In addition to
participation among married mothers altered views about
federal funding, states are required to expend a minimum
whether government should aid single mothers to stay at
amount of their own funds on the TANF-related population
home. Cash assistance to needy families with children
and TANF-related programs (a total $10.4 billion per year).
became among the most controversial of social programs,
This amount too is based on historical expenditures in pre-
particularly beginning in the late 1960s as the cash
TANF programs and is known as the “maintenance of
assistance caseload had its first large increase. “Welfare
effort” (MOE) requirement.
reform” was debated in four decades, ultimately leading to
the 1996 welfare reform law.
In addition to the basic block grant funds, states have
received at times some additional federal grants (welfare-
Figure 1. The Cash Assistance Caseload, 1959-2013
to-work grants, supplemental grants, and contingency
funds). For FY2015, the only additional funding to states
for TANF is through the TANF contingency fund.
Use of Federal Grants
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 FY2013,
TANF cash assistance totaled $8.7 billion, 28% of total
TANF federal block grant and MOE funds. In addition to
cash assistance, TANF contributes to state funds used for
child care, pre-kindergarten programs, and programs to
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from
provide services to children who have been abused and
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
neglected or are at risk for it.
www.crs.gov | 7-5700

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The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant
Figure 2. Use of TANF and MOE Funds, FY2013
Characteristics of the Caseload
In Billions of Dollars
Historically, families receiving cash assistance were headed
by a single mother who was not employed. However,
following the enactment of welfare reform and the decline
of the caseload in the 1990s, the composition of the
caseload changed and is currently more diverse. In
FY2012, less than half of all cash assistance families had a
non-employed adult. That year, 36% of the caseload was
“child-only”—without an adult recipient. “Child-only”
cases (shaded in blue on the figure below) are generally
excluded from the work participation rate.
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Figure 4. Characteristics of the TANF Cash

Assistance Caseload, Selected Years FY1988-FY2012
State TANF Cash Assistance Programs
Federal law sets certain rules for state TANF cash
assistance programs. It requires that a family aided by
TANF cash assistance have a dependent child. It also limits
federally funded aid to five years.
Benefits
States set the rules for determining whether a family is
“needy” and hence eligible for aid. States also determine
the benefit amounts they will pay.

Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from
Figure 3. Maximum Monthly TANF Cash Assistance
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Benefits for a Single-Parent Family with Two
Children, July 2013
Issues
TANF funding and authorization expires on September 30,
2015. Congress faces a decision to extend TANF beyond
that date. TANF issues that have been raised include:
• Should TANF funding levels or allocation of funds
among the states be altered?
• Should TANF dollars support the broad range of
activities currently allowable or should they be focused
on cash assistance and work activities; and should the
rules be tightened for what expenditures states may
count toward MOE requirements?
• Is a sufficient percentage of the caseload engaged in
work activities? Do current rules provide sufficient

incentive for states to innovate and adopt promising
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from
practices in moving cash assistance recipients to work?
the Urban Institute’s Welfare Rules Database.
• How should states address issues of potential substance
Work Requirements
abuse among cash assistance recipients?
• Should TANF performance measurement address issues
States determine the work requirements that apply to
in addition to work participation, including those for all
individual recipients. However, a state must meet a
TANF statutory goals?
performance measure that requires it to have a minimum
percentage of its cash assistance caseload include adult
• Should states be encouraged to integrate and coordinate
recipients engaged in either work or job preparation
TANF with other need-based programs?
activities (the work participation rate). Work activities
creditable toward this measure are focused on rapid
Gene Falk, gfalk@crs.loc.gov, 7-7344
attachment to work activities, with limits on how much

education and training are creditable toward the work
IF10036
participation rate.
www.crs.gov | 7-5700

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