Updated March 24, 2022
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
2021, the basic TANF block grant has lost 40% 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 nonfederal 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 FY2020, a total of $31.6
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 $7.1 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
Figure 1. Uses of Federal TANF and State MOE
grant. The TANF block grant’s overall purpose is to
Funds, by Category, FY2020
“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) end the dependence
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.
Source: CRS, based on data from the Department of Health and
American Indian tribes may also operate their own TANF
Human Services. Detail does not add to total because of rounding.
programs with federal dollars. The bulk of TANF funding is
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The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant
State TANF Cash Assistance Programs
Most of the post-1994 decline in the cash assistance
Federal law requires that a family aided by TANF cash
caseload resulted from a reduction in the share of eligible
assistance have a dependent child, and limits to five years
families receiving benefits, rather than a reduction in the
federally funded aid to families with an adult recipient.
number of families meeting states’ definitions of being a
States set most TANF rules that apply to recipient families.
needy family. In 1994, an estimated 79% of individuals
eligible for cash assistance actually received benefits; in
States determine the TANF benefit amounts. In July 2020,
2017, an estimated 27% of persons in families that met
the maximum monthly benefit for a single-parent family
states’ eligibility requirements actually received benefits.
with one child ranged from $862 in New Hampshire to
$146 in Mississippi. There is a regional pattern to these
Work Requirements
maximum benefits; they are generally lowest in the South.
Current TANF rules for engagement of assistance recipients
Figure 2. Maximum Monthly TANF Cash Assistance
in work fall within the context of meeting the minimum
Benefit by State, July 2020
work participation rate (WPR). The minimum WPR is a
Single Parent, One Child
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
standard and all but six met 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
Source: CRS, based on data from the Urban Institute’s Welfare
activities.
Rules database.

Issues
In November 2020, a total of 1.0 million families received
The number of families receiving TANF assistance showed
TANF assistance. This compares with the historical peak in
little change in 2020, a year of disrupted economic activity
receipt of assistance under TANF’s predecessor program in
because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Congress
March 1994 of 5.1 million families. Fewer families
responded to the pandemic outside of TANF through a
received TANF assistance in November 2020 than in
series of measures to provide cash to households: expanded
November 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and its
unemployment insurance, economic impact payments, and
associated economic impact.
an expanded child tax credit. With these measures expired,
Figure 3.Number of Families Receiving Assistance,
a question is whether more families will turn to TANF
1959-2020
should the economic impact of the pandemic continue to be
felt. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2)
provided an extra $1 billion in funding for “non-recurrent
short-term” aid to families, which is available in FY2022 to
address needs that might arise because of the pandemic.
Beyond issues related to the pandemic, issues that have
been raised in recent discussions of TANF include whether
to alter TANF funding levels or allocation of funds to the
states to account for changed circumstances (e.g., inflation,
poverty population), change work requirements to prompt
states to engage additional unemployed recipients in
activities, or make changes to increase the share of eligible
families receiving assistance.

Source: CRS, based on data from the Department of Health and
Gene Falk, Specialist in Social Policy
Human Services. Shaded months denote economic recessions.

IF10036


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The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant


Disclaimer
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