The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 (PRWORA) reformed the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program by introducing time limits and work requirements with strict penalties.

TANF block grants replaced the Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) program which had been providing cash assistance to families experiencing poverty since 1935.  The block grant was set at $16.5 Billion a year and has not change since which as lead to an over 40% reduction in real value of the block grant over the past 20 plus years.

The Federal government provides funds to each state to run their own program. There is a “maintenance of effort requirement” that each state is supposed to provide funding for. The amount states are supposed to spend on this maintenance requirement has been set at 80% of their 1994 AFDC contribution (75% for states that meet work participation requirements, which most states meet). 1

Unlike AFDC which dealt solely with cash assistance, TANF has four broad goals: 2

• Provide assistance to needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes

  1. Reduce the dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work and marriage

  2. Prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies

  3. Encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families

States have broad discretion to determine eligibility requirements. However, there are three overarching federal regulations that states must follow: 3

• 50% of families receiving TANF must be engaged in a “work activity” for 30 hours a week. This is reduced to 20 hours a week for single parents with children younger than 6

• 90% of two parent homes must be engaged in a “work activity” for 35 hours a week

• A family must work 55 hours a week if it receives federally funded child care

State flexibility has led to large differences in programs and policies state by state.  To see what your state spends TANF funding on, see here. For the full Rules Database from the Urban Institute, see here.

For more information on current TANF policy, see here.

The full text of the bill can be found here.

Endnotes

1. https://www.cbpp.org/research/family-income-support/temporary-assistance-for-needy-families

2. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/programs/tanf/about

3. Inform from the Urban Institute