Updated July 20, 2020
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
Block Grant
Introduction
programs with federal dollars . The bulk of TANF funding is
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
in a basic block grant of $16.5 billion per year. Every year,
block grant was created in the Personal Responsibility and
each state receives a fixed grant based on how much it
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA,
received in federal funding in the pre-1996 cash assistance
P.L. 104-193). That law was the culmination of a series of
and related programs during the early- and mid-1990s.
legislative changes that altered the rules for providing
Tribes also may receive grants based on mid-1990s
benefits and services to needy families with children.
expenditures.
Brief History
The TANF block grant has not been increased since the
enactment of the 1996 welfare law. There has been no
Public cash assistance to needy families with children has
adjustment for inflation or population change. From 1997 to
its origin in the early 1900s state and locally financed
“mother’s pension” programs that aided si
2019, TANF has lost 37% of its value to inflation. During
ngle mothers
TANF’s history, states have at times received TANF funds
(often widows) so that children could be raised in their own
in addition to the basic block grant. For FY2020, the only
homes rather than institutionalized. The Social Security Act
additional funding to states for TANF is through the TANF
of 1935 provided federal funding for these programs with
contingency fund.
the explicit goal to aid mothers so they would not have to
work and could stay home to raise their children.
In addition to federal funding, states are required to expend
a minimum amount of their own funds on the TANF-related
Post-1935 changes altered the context in which programs
population and TANF-related programs (a total minimum
for needy families with children operated. In 1939,
survivors’ benefits were added to Social Security, providing
of $10.3 billion per year.) This amount is also based on
historical expenditures in pre-TANF programs and is
social insurance benefits to widows and their children. The
known as the “maintenance of effort” (MOE) requirement.
increase in labor force participation among married mothers
Some states spend more than the minimum.
altered views about whether government should aid single
mothers to stay at home. Families with children whose
Use of TANF Funds
fathers were alive but absent comprised more of the public
States may use federal block grant and MOE funds in any
cash assistance caseload. The caseload also became more
manner that is “reasonably calculated” to achieve TANF’s
nonwhite. Cash assistance to needy families with children
statutory purpose and goals. States have used TANF funds
became among the most controversial of social programs,
for a wide range of benefits and services. In FY2018, a total
particularly beginning in the late 1960s as the cash
of $31.3 billion was spent by states from federal TANF and
assistance caseload had its first large increase. Proposals to
state MOE funds. TANF assistance, including monthly cash
replace or reform cash assistance for needy families were
benefits to families with children, totaled $6.7 billion. In
debated across four decades, ultimately leading to the
addition to assistance, TANF contributes to state funds used
enactment of PRWORA.
for work and training programs, child care, pre-
The TANF Block Grant
kindergarten programs, programs to provide services to
The TANF block grant’s overall purpose is to “increase the
children who have been abused and neglected or are at risk
flexibility of states” to meet four statutory goals:
of it, and other services (youth activities, responsible
fatherhood and healthy marriage promotion).
(1) provide assistance to needy families so that children
may remain in their homes; (2) reduce dependency of needy
Figure 1. Uses of Federal TANF and State MOE
parents on government benefits through work, job
Funds, by Category: FY2018
preparation, and marriage; (3) reduce out-of-wedlock
pregnancies; and (4) promote the formation and
maintenance of two-parent families. PRWORA and the
creation of TANF altered the federal rules that applied to
states for their cash assistance programs. It also established
a broad-purpose 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 s tates, District of

Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from
American Indian tribes may also operate their own TANF
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
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The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant
State TANF Cash Assistance Programs
eligible for cash assistance actually received benefits; in
Federal law requires that a family aided by TANF cash
2016, an estimated 27% of families that met states’
assistance have a dependent child, and limits federally
eligibility requirements actually received benefits. (See
funded aid to families with an adult recipient to five years.
CRS Report R45966, The Temporary Assistance for Needy
States set most TANF rules that apply to recipient families.
Families Block Grant: Legislative Issues in the 116th
Congress.)
States determine the TANF benefit amounts. In July 2018,
the maximum monthly benefit for a single-parent family of
Work Requirements
three ranged from $1,021 in New Hampshire to $170 in
Current TANF rules for engagement of assistance recipients
Mississippi. There is a regional pattern to these maximum
in work fall within the context of meeting the minimum
benefits; they are lowest in the South.
work participation rate (WPR). The minimum WPR is a
Figure 2. Maximum Monthly TANF Cash Assistance
performance standard for the state; it does not apply
Benefit by State, July 2018
directly to individual recipients. States that do not meet the
For a Single-Parent Family with Two Children
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 FY2018, all but one jurisdiction (Montana) had a
sufficient share of their caseload either working or engaged
in activities to meet TANF’s “all families” work standard.
Seven jurisdictions failed the two-parent standard. States
that met their work standard generally did so through

caseload reduction and aiding families who were already
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from
working, rather than engaging unemployed recipients in
the Urban Institute’s Welfare Rules database.
activities. The Department of Health and Human Services

(HHS) has issued guidance to states to help them respond to
In September 2019, a total of 1.1 million families received
the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that while it cannot waive
TANF assistance. This compares with the historical peak in
TANF work rules, it can relieve states of penalties for
receipt of assistance under TANF’s predecessor program in
states’ failure to meet these standards and “will exercise
March 1994 of 5.1 million families. The number of families
this authority to the maximum extent possible.”
that received assistance in September 2019 is the lowest
since August 1966.
Issues
Issues that have been raised in recent discussions of TANF
Figure 3. Number of Families Receiving Assistance,
include the following:
1959-2019
 Should TANF funding levels or allocation of funds to
the states be altered to account for changed
circumstances (e.g., inflation, poverty population)?
 Should TANF dollars support the broad range of
activities currently allowable or should they be focused
on cash assistance and supporting work?
 Is the rate of assistance receipt among those eligible for
it (27% in 2016) indicative of unmet need among low-

income families with children?
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
 Is a sufficient percentage of the caseload engaged in

work activities? Do current rules provide sufficient
incentive for states to innovate and adopt promising
Most of the post-1994 decline in the cash assistance
practices in moving cash assistance recipients to work?
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
Gene Falk, Specialist in Social Policy
needy family. In 1995, an estimated 82% of families
IF10036
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The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant


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