Florida temporary assistance for needy families

Federal and State Expenditures and Transfers to Child Care Under TANF, FY1997-FY2014 TANF and Predecessor Program Expenditures for Cash Assistance, FY1987-FY2014 Federal and State Expenditures and Transfers by Spending Category, Selected Years FY1995-FY2014 Federal and State Expenditures and Transfers from TANF and Predecessor Programs, FY1987-FY2014 Federal TANF Grants to States: FY1997-FY2015 TANF Basic Block Grant and MOE Funding Levels TANF Basic Block Grant Formula Factors and Allocation Current budget rules would require legislation to increase TANF funding to contain corresponding offsets by reducing other mandatory funds and/or increasing revenues.

Should Congress seek to address these issues, it would do so in the context of budget rules that apply to TANF as a mandatory program with fixed funding. Further, TANF potentially lacks a source of sufficient additional funding in case of a future economic downturn. The TANF allocation вЂњlocked inвЂќ historical differences among the states that resulted in a wide range of funding levels relative to the number of poor children. From FY1997 through FY2014, the TANF block grant lost 32% of its value due to inflation alone. Neither the national total funding level nor each stateвЂ™s level of funding has been adjusted for changes since then, such as inflation, the size of the cash assistance caseload, or changes in the poverty population. Most of TANFвЂ™s financing issues relate to its fixed level of funding, based on programs and conditions that existed in the early and mid-1990s. TANF also provides funds for state-subsidized child care programs ($5.1 billion or 16% of total FY2014 TANF and MOE funds) as well as a wide range of services, including those addressing child abuse and neglect and pre-kindergarten programs. By FY2000 cash assistance had declined to 40% of total TANF and MOE funds in FY2014 cash assistance represented 26% of all TANF and MOE funds. In FY1995, under TANFвЂ™s predecessor programs, AFDC cash assistance represented 70% of total expenditures in the programs consolidated into TANF. The cash assistance caseload declined substantially in the late 1990s from its 1994 peak, resulting in a decline in spending on TANF basic assistance. However, these grants were small relative to the basic block grant and MOE funding. Over time, states have received some extra TANF funding: welfare-to-work grants, contingency funds, supplemental grants, and bonus funds. The MOE is based on state expenditures in the predecessor programs in FY1994. That minimum totals $10.4 billion per year. States must also expend a minimum amount of their own funds on TANF or TANF-related programs under the maintenance of effort (MOE) requirement. Both the national total of the basic block grant, $16.5 billion per year, and each stateвЂ™s grant are based on federal funding in the predecessor programs during this period. The bulk of federal TANF funds is in a basic block grant. TANF funding is based on the amount of federal and state expenditures in its predecessor programs (Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and related programs) in the early to mid-1990s. The 1996 law also created TANF as a broad-purpose block grant with state flexibility to design programs to address both the effects of and root causes of childhood economic disadvantage. It was created in the 1996 welfare reform law, which rewrote the rules for cash assistance programs for these families. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides grants to states, Indian tribes, and territories to help them fund a wide range of benefits and services for needy families with children.

Florida temporary assistance for needy families