The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, created by the 1996 welfare law, provides a temporary safety net to few poor families — including those with no other means to meet basic needs — and its reach has shrunk considerably over time.1 In 2015, for every 100 families in poverty, only 23 received cash assistance from TANF — down from 68 families when TANF was first enacted. This “TANF-to-poverty ratio” (TPR) reached its lowest point in 2014 and remained there in 2015.

TANF provides strong evidence that block granting exacerbates, rather than reduces, poverty and should not be extended to other programs:

• TANF provides a temporary safety net to few poor families and its reach continues to shrink, both nationally and in nearly every state.
• Most state TANF programs did not expand in response to increased need during the Great Recession of 2007-09. In fact, a number of states cut or reduced access to their programs during and after the downturn for budgetary and ideological reasons.
• TANF does less to lift families out of deep poverty than its predecessor, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and has put poor children at risk of much greater hardship, with the potential for long-term negative consequences.

The federal government has a critical role in ensuring that low-income families have access to a minimum level of support to meet their basic needs. The TANF block grant handed that responsibility over to states, which — with no national standards to hold them accountable for providing assistance to families in need — acted in their own self-interest, not in the best interest of the most vulnerable members of society.