Congressional Research Service R46692.4 (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief)
Summary
A Congressional Research Service report, R46692 (version 4), by Gene Falk and Patrick A. Landers, updated March 18, 2021, on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant and COVID-19 pandemic economic relief. It explains that TANF provides grants to states, territories and American Indian tribes to help finance benefits and services for needy families with children. It states that the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA; P.L. 117-2), signed into law on March 11, 2021, establishes a temporary $1 billion TANF fund that states, territories and tribes can use for nonrecurrent short-term benefits. It describes the primary TANF funding stream, the state family assistance block grant, set by a formula in law.
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Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and
Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic
Relief: In Brief
Updated March 18, 2021
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R46692
SUMMARY
R46692
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and
March 18, 2021
Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic
Gene Falk
Relief: In Brief Specialist in Social Policy
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides grants to states, Patrick A. Landers
territories, and American Indian tribes to help finance a wide range of benefits and services for Analyst in Social Policy
needy families with children. On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
(ARPA; P.L. 117-2) was signed into law. Among other provisions, the legislation establishes a
temporary $1 billion TANF fund that states, territories, and tribes can use to provide nonrecurrent
short-term benefits.
The primary TANF funding stream, the state family assistance block grant, provides states a set dollar amount determined by
a formula established in law by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA;
P.L. 104-193). This amount is not adjusted for inflation, population shifts, or any other changes that have transpired since the
mid-1990s. States are required to expend a minimum amount of their own funds, known as the state maintenance-of-effort
(MOE) requirement, on the TANF-related population and TANF-related programs. This amount also has not changed since
the mid-1990s. In recent years, Congress has also appropriated funding to the TANF contingency fund, which was first
established in 1996 as a source of additional funding in the event of an economic downturn and provides matching grants to
states meeting certain requirements. In total, states expended $30.9 billion in federal TANF grants to states and state MOE
funds in FY2019. TANF funds can be used to provide a variety of benefits and services, including ongoing basic economic
assistance; emergency, short-term aid; work, education, and training activities; child care and other work supports; and social
services. States vary widely in how they use federal TANF grants and state MOE funds.
Under ARPA, a temporary TANF grant provides $1 billion to states, territories, and tribes to supplement other TANF
funding. Initial grants are made to states up to a set allocation amount. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) is given $2 million for federal administration and to help provide technical assistance to states, territories, and tribes.
After the amount for technical assistance is set aside, 7.5% of the remaining funds are provided to the territories and Indian
tribes and 92.5% of the remaining funds are allotted to the 50 states and District of Columbia. The state funding is initially
allocated as follows: 50% is allocated by each state’s share of the total child population, and 50% is allocated by each state’s
share of total FY2019 TANF expenditures on basic assistance, nonrecurrent short-term benefits, and emergency assistance.
States, territories, and tribes can only use this funding for nonrecurrent short-term benefits. These short-term benefits address
a specific crisis situation or episode of need and can be provided in cash or noncash forms (e.g., payment vouchers for
emergency housing or food aid). Nonrecurrent short-term benefits are not subject to a number of provisions applicable to
basic assistance under TANF (e.g., time limits, work requirements, child support requirements).
Congressional Research Service
TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1
TANF Funding ............................................................................................................... 1
How TANF Funds Are Used........................................................................................ 2
TANF and Economic Downturns ................................................................................. 3
Proposed TANF Pandemic Emergency Assistance................................................................ 3
Funding Allocation .................................................................................................... 3
Use of Funds............................................................................................................. 6
Other Rules Related to the Pandemic Emergency Assistance ............................................ 7
Figures
Figure 1. Uses of TANF Funds by Spending Category, FY2019.............................................. 2
Tables
Table 1. Estimated Initial Allocations for a Proposed Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF) Grant to Provide Pandemic Emergency Assistance .................................... 4
Contacts
Author Information ......................................................................................................... 8
Congressional Research Service
TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
Introduction
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides grants to states,
territories, and American Indian tribes to help finance a wide range of benefits and services
related to ameliorating the effects of, and addressing the root causes of, economic disadvantage
among families with children. It is best known for providing ongoing economic assistance to
families with children, but it also funds emergency, short-term aid; child care; employment and
training programs for assistance recipients as well as other eligible parents or youth; and social
services.
In 2020, five separate laws were enacted to address the economic fallout from the Coronavirus
Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and provide economic relief. 1 No additional funding for
TANF was provided in any of those measures, though the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) announced it would provide relief from penalties under existing law to states that
failed to meet TANF work participation standards. 2
President Biden proposed $1 billion in additional TANF funding to help finance additional cash
assistance as part of his American Rescue Plan. 3 On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan
Act of 2021 (ARPA; P.L. 117-2), an omnibus budget reconciliation bill, was enacted. 4 Section
9201 of ARPA creates a $1 billion temporary TANF grant to supplement other TANF funding.
TANF Funding
TANF was created in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of
1996 (PRWORA, P.L. 104-193). Before PRWORA, economic assistance to needy families with
children was provided through a federal-state matching grant program. Under that program (Aid
to Families with Dependent Children [AFDC]), funding was not limited, and federal grants
reimbursed states for a share of their expenditures. Those expenditures were determined by, and
changed according to, the number of families receiving assistance and the benefit amounts they
received.
PRWORA converted funding for AFDC and related programs into the TANF block grant, with the
bulk of funding in the state family assistance grant. The state family assistance grant provides
states a set dollar amount determined by a formula established in the law. It does not change
according to the number of families receiving assistance or benefit amounts. Additionally, the
funding levels for the state family assistance grant provided by PRWORA have not been
increased for inflation, population, or other changes that have transpired since the mid-1990s. The
1
For more information, see CRS Report R46460, Fiscal Policy and Recovery from the COVID-19 Recession.
2 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family
Assistance, Questions and Answers about TANF and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic, T ANF-
ACF-PI-2020-01, March 2020, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/policy-guidance/tanf-acf-pi-2020-01-questions-and-
answers-about-tanf-and-coronavirus-disease.
3
T he White House, “ President Biden Announces American Rescue Plan,” January 20, 2021, at
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/legislation/2021/01/20/president-biden-announces-american-rescue-plan/.
4
T he provision creating the T ANF pandemic emergency assistance was ordered to be sent to the House Budget
Committee from the House Committee on Ways and Means on February 10, 2021 . T he House Budget Committee
included this legislative language in its reported version of H.R. 1319. On February 27, 2021, the House passed its
version of H.R. 1319. On March 6, 2021, the Senate passed its version of the legislation. On March 10, 2021, the
House concurred with the Senate-passed legislation.
Congressional Research Service 1
TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
state family assistance grant totaled $16.5 billion in FY2019. In addition to expending federal
TANF grants, TANF requires states to make expenditures from their own funds on TANF or
TANF-related programs. This requirement, known as the state maintenance-of-effort (MOE)
requirement, is also a set amount that has not been adjusted for changes since the mid-1990s.5
How TANF Funds Are Used
Figure 1 shows how the $30.9 billion in federal TANF grants to states and state MOE funds was
expended, or transferred to other block grant programs, in FY2019. Ongoing basic economic
assistance was the most common use, but it only represented 21% ($6.5 billion) of total spending.
Other common uses included child care, work and training programs, refundable tax credits, pre-
kindergarten programs, programs to provide services to children who have been abused and
neglected or are at risk of abuse or neglect, emergency and short-term benefits, and other services
(youth, responsible fatherhood, and healthy marriage promotion activities).
States have broad discretion within TANF, and their use of federal TANF grants and state MOE
funds varies considerably. For example, the share of total expenditures devoted to basic assistance
ranged from a low of 3.6% (Indiana) to a high of 69.3% (Kentucky) in FY2019. Work, education,
and training expenditures varied from a low of 0.2% (Arizona) to a high of 26.9% (California).
Eight states and the District of Columbia reported no TANF expenditures on child welfare, while
three states (Arizona, Georgia, and North Dakota) allocated more than half their federal TANF
grant and state MOE funds to this purpose. 6
Figure 1. Uses of TANF Funds by Spending Category, FY2019
(Dollars in billions)
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data posted to the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) website on October 22, 2020.
Notes: Categories may not add to total because of rounding. Excludes TANF funds used in the territories and in
tribal TANF programs.
5 For additional details on T ANF financing, see CRS Report RL32748, The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) Block Grant: A Primer on TANF Financing and Federal Requirements.
6 For data on FY2019 T ANF expenditures by category and state, see T able B-1 and T able B-2 in CRS Report
RL32760, The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant: Responses to Frequently Asked
Questions.
Congressional Research Service 2
TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
TANF and Economic Downturns
To provide states with additional funding in the event of an economic downturn, PRWORA
established a $2 billion TANF contingency fund. This fund provides matching grants to states if
they meet certain requirements related to extra state spending, high and increasing
unemployment, or high and increasing caseloads in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP). The contingency fund allows grants to be used for any TANF benefit or
service.
The original $2 billion appropriation to the TANF contingency fund was exhausted during the
period of high unemployment associated with the 2007-2009 recession. Since then, Congress has
funded the contingency fund with annual appropriations. The FY2021 appropriation to the
contingency fund is $608 million, an amount expected to be exhausted in spring 2021. 7
In 2009, facing the exhaustion of the contingency fund and other concerns about its eligibility
criteria and uses, Congress established the Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF) in the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, P.L. 111-5). 8 The ECF was a $5 billion fund to help
states, territories, and tribes finance increased expenditures for basic assistance, nonrecurrent
short-term aid, and subsidized employment. The ECF expired on September 30, 2010. It was not
reauthorized, nor has it received additional funding.
Proposed TANF Pandemic Emergency Assistance
Section 9201 of ARPA creates a temporary TANF grant that provides $1 billion to help states,
territories, and tribes finance nonrecurrent short-term benefits. The law makes eligible for funds
the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American
Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and Indian tribes. 9
American Samoa and CNMI do not operate regular TANF programs. Their funds are directed to
the agency that administers most of the local human services programs in those territories.
Funding Allocation
Under ARPA, initial grants are made to states up to a set allocation amount. HHS receives $2
million for federal administration and to help provide technical assistance to states, territories,
and tribes. After the amount for technical assistance is set aside, 7.5% of the remaining funds are
provided to the territories and Indian tribes and 92.5% of the remaining funds are allotted to the
50 states and the District of Columbia. 10
7 As of February 3, 2021, states received cumulative FY2021 contingency fund grants of $384.9 million from the
FY2021 appropriation of $608 million. Grants are being made at a rate of $77 million per month. At this rate, the
FY2021 appropriat ion to the contingency fund will be exhausted in May 2021.
8 For a discussion of the 2009 T ANF Emergency Contingency Fund, see CRS Report R41078, The TANF Emergency
Contingency Fund.
9
T he funds provided to Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are excluded from the statutory (Section 1108
of the Social Security Act) limits on public assistance funding provided to these jurisdictions.
10 Funding to territories and tribes are allocated as the HHS Secretary deems appropriate based on the needs of the
territory or tribe involved.
Congressional Research Service 3
TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
Funds to the 50 states and District of Columbia ($923.150 million) are allocated as follows:
50% of funds are allocated based on each state’s total child (under age 18)
population as a percentage of the total child population of the 50 states and
District of Columbia; and
50% of funds are allocated based on each state’s FY2019 expenditures on basic
assistance, nonrecurrent short-term benefits, and emergency assistance as a
percentage of the total expenditures for these categories in the 50 states and
District of Columbia. 11
Pandemic emergency assistance grant monies that are not used by a state will be reallocated to
other states. Thus, after the reallocation of unused funds, the actual amounts received by some
states might differ from the estimated allotments.
Table 1 provides the Congressional Research Service’s estimates of the initial allocation of the
pandemic emergency assistance TANF grant. These estimates are provided solely to assist in
comparisons of the relative impact of funding levels and alternative formulas in the legislative
process. The data used in providing the allocation estimates are discussed in the note to Table 1. 12
Should HHS use different data, the allocations to the states would likely also differ.
The table shows these estimates relative to the TANF state family assistance grant (SFAG). Its
final column shows how much pandemic emergency assistance grants would increase TANF
funding above the amount provided by the state family assistance grant.
Table 1. Estimated Initial Allocations for a Proposed Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) Grant to Provide Pandemic Emergency Assistance
Pandemic
Emergency
Pandemic Assistance as
SFAG Emergency a Percentage
Payable to Assistance of SFAG
the State Allocation Payable to
State (millions of $) (millions of $) the State
Alabama $93.007 $10.181 10.9%
Alaska 44.397 3.370 7.6
Arizona 199.407 14.536 7.3
Arkansas 56.546 4.717 8.3
California 3,635.563 203.700 5.6
Colorado 135.608 13.522 10.0
Connecticut 265.908 7.088 2.7
Delaware 32.184 2.070 6.4
District of Columbia 92.304 14.731 16.0
Florida 560.484 35.451 6.3
11 Nonrecurrent short -term benefits and emergency assistance comprise most of the CRS-tabulated category
“Emergency and Short -T erm Benefits” shown in Figure 1.
12 T his table is a revision of allocation estimates shown in an earlier version of this report. T he previous version had
allocated 50% of funds based on FY2019 expenditures that included “emergency services” in addition to emergency
assistance.
Congressional Research Service 4
TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
Pandemic
Emergency
Pandemic Assistance as
SFAG Emergency a Percentage
Payable to Assistance of SFAG
the State Allocation Payable to
State (millions of $) (millions of $) the State
Georgia 329.650 21.994 6.7
Hawaii 98.578 4.211 4.3
Idaho 30.307 3.410 11.3
Illinois 583.126 20.423 3.5
Indiana 206.117 10.678 5.2
Iowa 130.558 6.361 4.9
Kansas 101.478 5.133 5.1
Kentucky 180.689 17.408 9.6
Louisiana 163.431 7.908 4.8
Maine 76.847 3.862 5.0
Maryland 228.342 17.756 7.8
Massachusetts 457.855 27.840 6.1
Michigan 772.794 19.000 2.5
Minnesota 259.569 14.322 5.5
Mississippi 86.481 4.744 5.5
Missouri 216.335 14.519 6.7
Montana 37.889 2.738 7.2
Nebraska 56.627 4.446 7.9
Nevada 43.762 6.798 15.5
New Hampshire 38.394 4.131 10.8
New Jersey 402.702 17.244 4.3
New Mexico 109.920 6.391 5.8
New York 2,434.869 127.154 5.2
North Carolina 300.438 16.802 5.6
North Dakota 26.313 1.371 5.2
Ohio 725.566 33.945 4.7
Oklahoma 144.793 7.125 4.9
Oregon 165.835 12.235 7.4
Pennsylvania 717.125 26.456 3.7
Rhode Island 94.292 4.362 4.6
South Carolina 99.638 10.145 10.2
South Dakota 21.207 2.294 10.8
Tennessee 190.892 12.972 6.8
Congressional Research Service 5
TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
Pandemic
Emergency
Pandemic Assistance as
SFAG Emergency a Percentage
Payable to Assistance of SFAG
the State Allocation Payable to
State (millions of $) (millions of $) the State
Texas 484.652 49.467 10.2
Utah 75.356 7.333 9.7
Vermont 47.197 1.622 3.4
Virginia 157.763 15.749 10.0
Washington 379.058 22.749 6.0
West Virginia 109.813 4.613 4.2
Wisconsin 312.846 14.534 4.6
Wyoming 18.429 1.536 8.3
Subtotal, 50 States and District of Columbia 16,232.943 923.150 5.7
Territories and Tribal Set-Aside 277.497 74.850 27.0
Technical Assistance 2.000
Totals 16,510.439 1,000.000 6.1
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS) estimates based on data from the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Notes: These estimates are based on specific sources of information. If the HHS uses different data, the
allocations to the states will likely also differ. The state family assistance grant (SFAG) shown in the table for the
50 states and the District of Columbia reflects the state family assistance grant minus the amount used for tribal
TANF grants in FY2019 (the last year for which actual data are available) and are taken from HHS,
Administration for Children and Families, FY2021 Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees. The
expenditure information used to calculate pandemic emergency assistance estimates is from the FY2019
expenditure data reported to HHS under Section 411 of the Social Security Act and posted to the HHS website
on October 22, 2020. The expenditure categories are based on form ACF-196-R, and the expenditures used
were the sum of the following reported categories: (1) basic assistance, (2) nonrecurrent short-term benefits,
and (3) emergency assistance authorized solely under prior law. (Prior law refers to the legal context before
PRWORA was enacted.) The child population data used to calculate Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund
estimates are the state resident population estimates for July 1, 2019, released in June 2020.
Use of Funds
States, territories, and tribes may use TANF funds provided under ARPA only for nonrecurrent
short-term benefits and the administrative costs of providing them. Nonrecurrent short-term
benefits are defined in OMB-approved Form ACF-196R. 13 This form’s instructions define the
benefits as short-term benefits being made:
To families in the form of cash, vouchers, subsidies, or similar form of payment to deal
with a specific crisis situation or episode of need and excluded from the definition of
assistance on that basis. This category includes [state] expenditures such as emergency
13 T here is also a regulatory definition of nonrecurrent short-term benefits at 45 C.F.R. §260.31(b)(1). T hat definition is
similar, but not identical, to the definition on the ACF-196R. ARPA specifies that the definition on the ACF-196R be
used to administer the Pandemic Emergency Assistance grant.
Congressional Research Service 6
TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
assistance and diversion payments, emergency housing and short-term homelessness
assistance, emergency food aid, short-term utilities payments, burial assistance, clothing
allowances, and back-to-school payments.14
In FY2019, states spent more than $955 million in total on nonrecurrent short-term benefits using
federal TANF and state MOE funding. Nonrecurrent short-term benefits are sometimes provided
in lieu of basic assistance, though states may provide such benefits to recipients in addition to
ongoing basic assistance. As with ongoing basic assistance, states determine whether a family
qualifies as financially needy and the amount of non-recurrent short-term assistance.
The exclusion of nonrecurrent short-term benefits from the definition of assistance means these
benefits are not subject to a number of provisions applicable to basic assistance under TANF. For
example,
the federal TANF time limit on assistance does not apply to nonrecurrent short-
term benefits (the time limit generally bars states from using federal TANF funds
to provide assistance to a family containing an adult who has already received
five years of assistance);
recipients of nonrecurrent short-term benefits do not count toward the federal
TANF work requirement, under which states must assess, engage, sanction, and
meet numerical work activity participation rates for families receiving assistance;
recipients of nonrecurrent short-term benefits are not required to cooperate with
child support enforcement and assign (i.e., legally turn over) their child support
to the state, as is generally required for families receiving TANF assistance;
TANF prohibitions on providing assistance to unwed teenaged parents who are
not living in an adult-supervised setting, teenagers who have not completed high
school and are not making satisfactory progress toward doing so, individuals who
have been convicted of a felony drug offense, and fugitive felons and parole
violators do not apply to non-recurrent short-term benefits; however, lawful
permanent residents who entered the United States within the past five years,
nonimmigrants, and unauthorized aliens are ineligible for these and other TANF
benefits; and
states are not required to provide the federal government with certain information
on recipients of nonrecurrent short-term benefits, including caseload counts and
recipient-level information, such as demographics, work activity hours, and
financial circumstances, on families receiving assistance.
States are limited to using no more than 15% of the allocations from the proposed grant for
administrative costs. Tribes and territories are exempt from this limit.
Other Rules Related to the Pandemic Emergency Assistance
To receive their full allotment of funds, states and tribes are required to inform HHS whether they
intend to use their full allotments. States are required to expend grants from their initial allocation
by September 30, 2022. Funds received through the allotment of unused funds have to be spent
within a year. ARPA includes language requiring that the pandemic emergency assistance funds
be used to supplement, not supplant, existing federal and state funds used to provide TANF
benefits and services.
14 Diversion in this context typically refers to a lump-sum payment offered to families in lieu of ongoing basic T ANF
assistance.
Congressional Research Service 7
TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
Author Information
Gene Falk Patrick A. Landers
Specialist in Social Policy Analyst in Social Policy
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan
shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and
under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other
than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in
connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not
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