Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief (R46692, Version 1)
Summary
Version 1 of a Congressional Research Service report, R46692, dated February 23, 2021 and written by Gene Falk and Patrick A. Landers, on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and proposed COVID-19 relief. On February 22, 2021 the House Budget Committee reported a reconciliation bill that would create a temporary $1 billion TANF Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund, usable only for non-recurrent short-term benefits. After $2 million for HHS administration, 7.5% would go to territories and tribes and 92.5% to the 50 states and the District of Columbia, allocated half by child population and half by FY2019 spending on short-term aid, emergency assistance and emergency services. The main block grant has not been adjusted since the mid-1990s, and states spent $30.9 billion in federal TANF grants and state funds in FY2019.
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Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and
Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic
Relief: In Brief
February 23, 2021
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R46692
SUMMARY
R46692
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and
February 23, 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 February 22, 2021, the House Budget Committee reported an
omnibus budget reconciliation bill that would, among other provisions, create a temporary $1
billion TANF Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund. As of that date, the Senate had not yet
moved to consider similar legislation as part of the budget reconciliation process for FY2021.
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 the House Budget Committee-reported legislation, the temporary TANF Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund would
provide $1 billion to states, territories, and tribes to supplement other TANF funding. Initial grants would be made to states
up to a set allocation amount. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would be 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 would be provided to the territories and Indian tribes and 92.5% of the
remaining funds would be allotted to the 50 states and District of Columbia. The state funding would be initially allocated as
follows: 50% would be allocated by each state’s share of the total child population, and 50% would be allocated by each
state’s share of total FY2019 TANF expenditures on basic assistance, non-recurrent short-term benefits, emergency
assistance, and emergency services. States, territories, and tribes could only use this funding for non-recurrent short-term
benefits. These short-term benefits address a specific crisis situation or episode of need and can be provided in cash or non-
cash forms (e.g., payment vouchers for emergency housing or food aid). Non-recurrent 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 Fund ........................................................ 3
Funding Allocation .................................................................................................... 3
Use of Funds............................................................................................................. 6
Other Rules Related to the Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund .................................... 8
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) Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund .................................................... 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 February 22, 2021, the House Budget
Committee reported an omnibus budget reconciliation bill to the House chamber. Title IX,
Section 9101, of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 would create a $1 billion temporary
TANF Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund to supplement other TANF funding. 4 As of that
date, the Senate had not yet moved to consider similar legislation as part of the budget
reconciliation process for FY2021. 5
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
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 Fund was ordered to be sent to the House Budget
Committee
from the House Committee on Ways and Means on February 10, 2021.
5 For information on budget reconciliation, see CRS Report R44058, The Budget Reconciliation Process: Stages of
Consideration. For information on the budget resolution for FY2021, which contains reconciliation directives, see CRS
Report R46675, S.Con.Res. 5: The Budget Resolution for FY2021 .
Congressional Research Service 1
TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
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
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.6
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. 7
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.
6 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.
7 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.
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TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
Notes: Categories may not add to total because of rounding. Excludes TANF funds used in the territories and in
tribal TANF programs.
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. 8
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). 9 The ECF was a $5 billion fund to help
states, territories, and tribes finance increased expenditures for basic assistance, non-recurrent
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
Fund
The House Budget Committee-reported omnibus budget reconciliation bill would create a
temporary TANF Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund. It would provide $1 billion to help
states, territories, and tribes finance non-recurrent short-term benefits. The legislation would
make 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. 10 American Samoa and CNMI do not operate regular TANF programs. Their
funds would be directed to the agency that administers most of the local human services programs
in those territories.
Funding Allocation
Under the House Budget Committee-reported legislation, initial grants would be made to states
up to a set allocation amount. HHS would be 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 would be provided to the territories and
8 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 appropriation to the contingency fund will be exhausted in May 2021.
9
For a discussion of the 2009 T ANF Emergency Contingency Fund, see CRS Report R41078, The TANF Emergency
Contingency Fund.
10 T he funds provided to Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands would be excluded from the statutory (Sec tion
1108 of the Social Security Act) limits on public assistance funding provided to these jurisdictions.
Congressional Research Service 3
TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
Indian tribes and 92.5% of the remaining funds would be allotted to the 50 states and the District
of Columbia. 11
Funds to the 50 states and District of Columbia ($923.150 million) would be allocated as follows:
50% of funds would be 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 would be allocated based on each state’s FY2019 expenditures on
basic assistance, non-recurrent short-term benefits, emergency assistance, and
emergency services as a percentage of the total expenditures for these categories
in the 50 states and District of Columbia. 12
Under the proposed Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund, funds that are not used by a state
would 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
TANF Pandemic Emergency Assistance Funds to the states. 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. 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. Its final
column shows how much pandemic emergency assistance funds 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) Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund
Pandemic
Estimated Emergency
Pandemic Assistance Funds as
State Family Emergency a Percentage of the
Assistance Grant, Assistance Fund State Family
FY2019 Allocation Assistance Grant in
State (millions of $) (millions of $) FY2019
Alabama $93.007 $10.149 10.9%
Alaska 44.397 3.349 7.5
Arizona 199.407 14.496 7.3
Arkansas 56.546 4.996 8.8
California 3,635.563 202.289 5.6
Colorado 135.608 13.469 9.9
Connecticut 265.908 8.298 3.1
11 Funding to territories and tribes would be allocated as the HHS Secretary deems appropriate based on the needs of
the territory or tribe involved.
12 Non-recurrent short -term benefits, emergency assistance, and emergency services comprise the CRS-tabulated
category “Emergency and Short -T erm Benefits” shown in Figure 1.
Congressional Research Service 4
TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
Pandemic
Estimated Emergency
Pandemic Assistance Funds as
State Family Emergency a Percentage of the
Assistance Grant, Assistance Fund State Family
FY2019 Allocation Assistance Grant in
State (millions of $) (millions of $) FY2019
Delaware 32.184 2.063 6.4
District of Columbia 92.304 14.598 15.8
Florida 560.484 35.367 6.3
Georgia 329.650 21.935 6.7
Hawaii 98.578 4.189 4.2
Idaho 30.307 4.060 13.4
Illinois 583.126 20.398 3.5
Indiana 206.117 10.671 5.2
Iowa 130.558 6.344 4.9
Kansas 101.478 5.126 5.1
Kentucky 180.689 17.303 9.6
Louisiana 163.431 8.361 5.1
Maine 76.847 3.840 5.0
Maryland 228.342 17.667 7.7
Massachusetts 457.855 27.655 6.0
Michigan 772.794 18.956 2.5
Minnesota 259.569 14.264 5.5
Mississippi 86.481 4.741 5.5
Missouri 216.335 14.463 6.7
Montana 37.889 2.725 7.2
Nebraska 56.627 4.432 7.8
Nevada 43.762 6.774 15.5
New Hampshire 38.394 4.107 10.7
New Jersey 402.702 17.197 4.3
New Mexico 109.920 6.359 5.8
New York 2,434.869 127.908 5.3
North Carolina 300.438 16.780 5.6
North Dakota 26.313 1.369 5.2
Ohio 725.566 33.776 4.7
Oklahoma 144.793 7.114 4.9
Oregon 165.835 12.170 7.3
Pennsylvania 717.125 26.408 3.7
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TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
Pandemic
Estimated Emergency
Pandemic Assistance Funds as
State Family Emergency a Percentage of the
Assistance Grant, Assistance Fund State Family
FY2019 Allocation Assistance Grant in
State (millions of $) (millions of $) FY2019
Rhode Island 94.292 4.332 4.6
South Carolina 99.638 10.115 10.2
South Dakota 21.207 2.285 10.8
Tennessee 190.892 12.939 6.8
Texas 484.652 49.441 10.2
Utah 75.356 7.320 9.7
Vermont 47.197 1.614 3.4
Virginia 157.763 15.711 10.0
Washington 379.058 22.635 6.0
West Virginia 109.813 4.591 4.2
Wisconsin 312.846 14.472 4.6
Wyoming 18.429 1.529 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 would likely also differ. The “state family assistance grant” 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 Fund 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) non-recurrent short-term benefits,
(3) emergency assistance authorized solely under prior law, and (4) emergency services 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 funds provided under the House Budget Committee-
reported legislation only for non-recurrent short-term benefits and the administrative costs of
Congressional Research Service 6
TANF and Proposed COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Relief: In Brief
providing them. Non-recurrent 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
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 non-recurrent short-term benefits
using federal TANF and state MOE funding. Non-recurrent 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 non-recurrent 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 non-recurrent 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 non-recurrent 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 non-recurrent 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 non-recurrent short-term benefits, including caseload counts and
recipient-level information, such as demographics, work activity hours, and
financial circumstances, on families receiving assistance.
States would be limited to using no more than 15% of the allocations from the Pandemic
Emergency Assistance Fund for administrative costs. Tribes and territories would be exempt from
this limit.
13 T here is also a regulatory definition of non-recurrent 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. T he legislation specifies that the definition on the ACF-
196R be used to administer the Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund.
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
Other Rules Related to the Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund
To receive their full allotment of funds, states and tribes would be required to inform HHS
whether they intend to use their full allotments. States would be required to expend grants from
their initial allocation by September 30, 2022. Funds received through the allotment of unused
funds would have to be spent within a year. The House Budget Committee-reported legislation
includes language requiring that the Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund be used to
supplement, not supplant, existing federal and state funds used to provide TANF benefits and
services. HHS is authorized to collect data on expenditures made from the funds.
Author Information
Gene Falk Patrick A. Landers
Specialist in Social Policy Analyst in Social Policy
Disclaimer
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