TANF Cash Benefits as of January 1, 2004 (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Sept. 12, 2005 |
| Report Number |
RL32598 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Meridith Walters, Gene Balk, and Vee Burke, Domestic Social Policy Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant is a major source of cash assistance -- commonly referred to as 'welfare' -- for low income families with children. TANF also provides funds to states for a wide range of benefits and services for both families receiving cash assistance and other families. Though the federal government provides TANF funds to states, the states themselves determine cash benefit amounts. [â¦] Maximum benefits are generally paid to families without a wage earner. However, almost all jurisdictions have increased rewards for recipients who work, effectively raising the amount of earnings a recipient may keep before she becomes ineligible for cash assistance. The percent of adult recipients reported as 'employed' climbed from 11% in FY1996 to 26% in FY2002. State TANF programs generally disregard a sizable share of earnings for at least a period of time (some disregard 100% of earnings for the first few months on a job). The rules for treating families with earnings vary greatly from state to state, and thus the level of earnings at which a family becomes ineligible for TANF varies greatly by state. A recipient in a family of three (single mother, two children) who obtains a job and works 20 hours a week at a minimum wage job remains eligible for TANF in most states, though in some she becomes ineligible for assistance in a few months. However, in most states her earnings plus the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and food stamps would be insufficient to raise her total income above the poverty line.
