Updated October 13, 2021
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
Block Grant
Introduction
in a basic block grant of $16.5 billion per year. Every year,
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
each state receives a fixed grant based on how much it
block grant was created in the Personal Responsibility and
received in federal funding in the pre-1996 cash assistance
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA,
and related programs during the early- and mid-1990s.
P.L. 104-193). That law was the culmination of a series of
Tribes also may receive grants based on mid-1990s
legislative changes that altered the rules for providing
expenditures.
benefits and services to needy families with children.
The TANF block grant has not been increased since the
Brief History
enactment of the 1996 welfare law. There has been no
adjustment for inflation or population change. From 1997 to
Public cash assistance to needy families with children has
2020, the basic TANF block grant has lost 38% of its value
its origin in the early 1900s state and locally financed
“mother’s pension” programs that aided
to inflation. During TANF’s history, states have at times
single mothers
received TANF funds in addition to the basic block grant.
(often widows) so that children could be raised in their own
Since 2011, some states have routinely tapped a
homes rather than institutionalized. The Social Security Act
“contingency fund,” that was originally intended to provide
of 1935 provided federal funding for these programs with
extra funding during economic recessions.
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
contribute a minimum amount of non-federal funds on the
Post-1935 changes altered the context in which programs
TANF-related population and TANF-related programs (a
for needy families with children operated. In 1939,
survivors’ benefits were added to Social Security, providing
total minimum of $10.3 billion per year). This amount is
also based on historical expenditures in pre-TANF
social insurance benefits to widows and their children. The
programs and is known as the “maintenance of effort”
increase in labor force participation among married mothers
(MOE) requirement. Some states spend more than the
altered views about whether government should aid single
minimum.
mothers to stay at home. Families with children whose
fathers were alive but absent comprised more of the public
Use of TANF Funds
cash assistance caseload. The caseload also became more
States may use federal block grant and MOE funds in any
nonwhite. Cash assistance to needy families with children
manner that is “reasonably calculated” to achieve TANF’s
became among the most controversial of social programs,
statutory purpose and goals. In FY2019, a total of $30.9
particularly beginning in the late 1960s as the cash
billion was spent by states from federal TANF and state
assistance caseload had its first large increase. Proposals to
MOE funds. TANF basic assistance, including monthly
replace or reform cash assistance for needy families were
cash benefits to families with children, totaled $6.5 billion.
debated across four decades, ultimately leading to the
In addition to assistance, TANF contributes to state funds
enactment of PRWORA.
used for work and training programs, child care, pre-
The TANF Block Grant
kindergarten programs, programs to provide services to
children who have been abused and neglected or are at risk
PRWORA and the creation of TANF altered the federal
of it, and other services (e.g., youth activities, responsible
rules that applied to states for their cash assistance
fatherhood, healthy marriage promotion).
programs. It also consolidated federal funds for public
assistance to needy families into a broad-purpose 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.
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
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The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant
Figure 1. Uses of Federal TANF and State MOE
Figure 3. Number of Families Receiving Assistance,
Funds, by Category: FY2019
1959-2020

Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Detail does
not add to total because of rounding.


Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from
State TANF Cash Assistance Programs
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Shaded
Federal law requires that a family aided by TANF cash
months denote economic recessions.
assistance have a dependent child, and limits to five years

federally funded aid to families with an adult recipient.
Most of the post-1994 decline in the cash assistance
States set most TANF rules that apply to recipient families.
caseload resulted from a reduction in the share of eligible
States determine the TANF benefit amounts. In July 2019,
families receiving benefits, rather than a reduction in the
the maximum monthly benefit for a single-parent family of
number of families meeting states’ definitions of being a
three ranged from $1,066 in New Hampshire to $170 in
needy family. In 1994, an estimated 79% of individuals
Mississippi. There is a regional pattern to these maximum
eligible for cash assistance actually received benefits; in
benefits; they are lowest in the South.
2017, an estimated 27% of persons in families that met
states’ eligibility requirements actually received benefits.
Figure 2. Maximum Monthly TANF Cash Assistance
Benefit by State, July 2019
Work Requirements
For a Single-Parent Family with Two Children
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 FY2020, all jurisdictions met the “all families” work
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from
standard and all but six met the two-parent standard. States
the Urban Institute’s Welfare Rules database.
that met their work standard generally did so through

caseload reduction and aiding families who were already
In November 2020, a total of 1.0 million families received
working, rather than engaging unemployed recipients in
TANF assistance. This compares with the historical peak in
activities.
receipt of assistance under TANF’s predecessor program in
Issues
March 1994 of 5.1 million families. Fewer families
received TANF assistance in November 2020 than in
The number of families receiving TANF assistance showed
November 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and its
little change in 2020, a year of disrupted economic activity
associated economic impact.
because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Congress
responded to the pandemic outside of TANF through a
series of measures to provide cash to households: expanded
unemployment insurance, economic impact payments, and
an expanded child tax credit. With these measures expired,
or scheduled to expire (the child tax credit expansions
expire at the end of 2021), the question is whether more
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The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant
families will turn to TANF should the economic impact of
states to account for changed circumstances (e.g., inflation,
the pandemic continue to be felt. The American Rescue
poverty population), change work requirements to prompt
Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2) provided an extra $1 billion
states to engage additional unemployed recipients in
in funding for “non-recurrent short-term” aid to families,
activities, or make changes to increase the share of eligible
which is available in FY2022 to address needs that might
families receiving assistance.
arise because of the pandemic.
Gene Falk, Specialist in Social Policy
Beyond issues related to the pandemic, issues that have
been raised in recent discussions of TANF include whether
IF10036
to alter TANF funding levels or allocation of funds to the


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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10036 · VERSION 23 · UPDATED

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