Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): Its Role in Response to the Effects of Hurricane Katrina (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised Jan. 19, 2007 |
| Report Number |
RS22246 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Gene Falk, Domestic Social Policy Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
-
Premium Revised Oct. 7, 2005 (6 pages, $24.95)
add
-
Premium Sept. 16, 2005 (5 pages, $24.95)
add
|
Summary:
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides grants to states to help them fund a wide variety of benefits and services to low-income families with children. TANF is best known as helping fund ongoing cash welfare benefits for families with children, but the block grant may also fund other benefits and services such as emergency payments, child care, transportation assistance, and other social services. Welfare programs are not usually associated with responses to natural disasters. However, the scope of Hurricane Katrina's displacement of families, the strain likely to be placed on human service agencies responding to this displacement, plus the flexibility allowed states to design programs under TANF, has made the block grant a potential source of help to the victims of this disaster. P.L. 109-68 provides some additional TANF funds and waives certain program requirements for states affected by Katrina. Under that Act, all states are provided capped funding to aid evacuees from hurricane-damaged states. H.R. 3971, which passed the House on October 6, 2005, would provide some additional funds to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama to aid families not already on the TANF rolls who were evacuated from their residence but remain within their home state. S. 1716, pending in the Senate, would expand upon these provisions. This report will be updated.
