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1 1 (December 12, 2018)

handle is hein.crs/govybi0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Servic TANF Reauthorization: H.R. 586 Introduction The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides grants to states, tribes, and the territories for a wide range of benefits and services that seek to address the effects of and root causes of child poverty and economic disadvantage. Funding is set to expire on December 22, 2018, for TANF and related programs providing mandatory child care funding and responsible fatherhood and healthy marriage grants. For background on TANF, see CRS In Focus IF10036, The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant. The House Ways and Means Committee reported a bill in the 115th Congress, H.R. 5861, that would restructure and rename TANF as the Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services (JOBS) program. The committee bill would fund JOBS through FY2023. Purpose and Goals Under current law, TANF's purpose is to increase state flexibility to achieve four statutory goals: (1) provide assistance for needy families so that children may remain in their own homes; (2) end dependence of needy parents on government benefits through work, job preparation, and marriage; (3) reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and (4) promote the formation and maintenance of two-parent families. H.R. 5861 would maintain these goals for the JOBS program, and add a fifth statutory goal: to reduce the number of children in poverty by increasing the employment entry, retention, and advancement of their parents. Financing For FY2018, TANF provides grants to states in its basic block grant ($16.5 billion total) and contingency funds ($608 million). The TANF allocation to the states dates back to the 1996 welfare reform law, and is based on spending in the pre-TANF programs in the early- to mid- 1990s. In addition to federal funds, TANF requires states to spend a minimum of $10.3 billion per year of their own funds on TANF or TANF-related programs. This is known as the maintenance of effort (MOE) requirement. H.R. 5861 would provide JOBS grants for FY2019 through FY2023 at the same level as the TANF basic block grant did in FY2018. It would not alter the allocation of federal funds to the states. It would also continue the MOE requirement at its current level. H.R. 5861 would eliminate the contingency fund, which was intended to provide extra grants to states during periods of economic downturns. H.R. 5861 would also limit a state's ability to reserve funds for future uses (including economic recessions) to 15% of the state's block grant. Updated December 12, 2018 Budget savings from eliminating the contingency fund would be used to offset increased child care funding. H.R. 5861 would increase annual appropriations for the Child Care Entitlement to States by $608 million per year, from $2.917 billion in FY2018 to $3.525 billion for FY2019 through FY2023. These mandatory child care funds are integrated with discretionary Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) funds at the state level. H.R. 5861 would also extend competitive responsible fatherhood and healthy marriage grants ($75 million for each in FY2018) at their current funding levels through FY2023. It would not make any policy changes to these grants. Use of Grants Under current law, states may expend federal TANF funds and count as MOE expenditures spending on benefits and services that aim to further TANF's broad purpose and statutory goals. Figure 1 shows TANF and MOE spending by category. Spending on basic assistance, which includes the monthly cash assistance checks that TANF is best known for, totaled $7.4 billion out of $30.9 billion, or 24% of TANF spending. Work activity spending of $2.8 billion accounted for an additional 9% of TANF spending. TANF funds are also used for child care, child welfare services (related to children in, or at risk of, foster care), early childhood programs, youth, and state spending on healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood programs. Figure I. Uses of TANF Funds, FY2016 Total=$30.9 Billion Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). H.R. 5861 would require that states spend at least 25% of their federal JOBS grants and counted MOE spending on a specified set of core activities: assistance, work, and short-term aid. It would limit JOBS spending to families with incomes of 200% or less of the federal poverty level. Additional rules for federal JOBS funds would include a provision that they supplement rather than supplant state funds. A state's ability to count nongovernmental expenditures toward the MOE requirement would be phased-out. https://crsreports.congress go

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