{
  "id": "R40946",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R40946",
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  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
  "versions": [
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      "id": 435543,
      "date": "2014-11-05",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T22:52:22.603910",
      "title": "The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Block Grant: An Overview",
      "summary": "The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides grants to states, Indian tribes, and territories for a wide range of benefits, services, and activities that address economic and social disadvantage for families with children. TANF is best known for funding state cash assistance programs for needy families with children, and it was created in the 1996 welfare reform law. However, TANF is not synonymous with cash assistance. In FY2013, only 28% of federal and state TANF dollars were for cash assistance. \nThe bulk of federal TANF funding is in a fixed block grant, which has been set at $16.5 billion since FY1997. The basic block grant is not adjusted for inflation, or for changes in the circumstances of a state such as its cash assistance caseload, population, or number of children in poverty. States are also required to spend a specified minimum of $10.4 billion in state funds on TANF-related activities and populations. This amount also has not changed since FY1997.\nTANF cash assistance programs today reflect a long history (going back to the early 1900s) and much controversy. States set their own cash assistance benefit levels. In 2012, cash benefits in all states represented a fraction of poverty-level income. In New York, the state with the highest benefit among the 48 contiguous states, the maximum monthly TANF cash benefit for a family of three was $770, which translates to 48% of poverty-level income. In contrast, Mississippi paid a monthly cash benefit for a family of three of $170 (11% of poverty-level income). Families with adult recipients (and certain nonrecipient parents) come under work participation rules. Federally funded aid is also time-limited for such families.\nThe cash assistance caseload has declined dramatically from its pre-welfare-reform high of 5.1 million families in 1994 to 1.7 million families in July 2008. The cash assistance caseload increased with the economic slump associated with the 2007-2009 recession, to a peak of 2.0 million families in December 2010. In December 2013, the cash assistance caseload stood at 1.7 million families. The cash assistance caseload has traditionally consisted of families headed by a nonworking parent, usually a single mother. However, in FY2011, less than half of the TANF cash caseload fit this description. The TANF cash caseload is very diverse, with more than half the caseload having different characteristics than the historical traditional cash assistance family. \nTANF is not a program per se, but a flexible funding stream used to provide a wide range of benefits and services that address the effects of, and the root causes of, disadvantage among families with children. In addition to cash assistance for needy families, TANF also funds child care; programs that address child abuse and neglect; various early childhood initiatives, including pre-kindergarten programs; earnings supplements for workers in low-income families; emergency and short-term aid; pregnancy prevention programs; responsible fatherhood programs; and initiatives to encourage healthy marriages.",
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    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc267843/",
      "id": "R40946_2013Oct23",
      "date": "2013-10-23",
      "retrieved": "2013-12-03T12:16:12",
      "title": "The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Block Grant: An Introduction",
      "summary": "This report discusses the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)- block grant that provides grants to states, Indian tribes, and territories for a wide range of benefits, services, and activities that address economic and social disadvantage for families with children.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
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      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)",
          "name": "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Block grants",
          "name": "Block grants"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Welfare",
          "name": "Welfare"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc819197/",
      "id": "R40946_2012May30",
      "date": "2012-05-30",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Block Grant: An Introduction",
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc806969/",
      "id": "R40946_2011Dec28",
      "date": "2011-12-28",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Block Grant: An Introduction",
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      "topics": []
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc816295/",
      "id": "R40946_2011Jul28",
      "date": "2011-07-28",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Block Grant: An Introduction",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
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  "topics": [
    "Domestic Social Policy"
  ]
}