TANF at 25: A Weaker Cash Safety Net Reaching Fewer Families and doing Less to Lift Families out of Deep Poverty

Abstract

We analyze the 25-year trajectory of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the nation’s cash safety net for families with children. Since its creation, TANF’s story has been one of greatly diminished access, low benefits, and states diverting funding away from cash assistance, changes that have disproportionately affected the assistance available to Black families. We document how the weakened safety net under TANF contributed to a rise in deep poverty among children in single-mother families and how two defining features of TANF — work requirements and time limits — contributed to TANF’s weakness. Finally, we make policy recommendations to address TANF’s failures.