Twenty-nine years ago, the federal government created a program that gives a minimal amount of money each month to eligible low-income families to help with essential expenses and ensure kids have what they need. Like several other safety net programs, this one may face significant changes in the near future. 

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is probably what most people think of when they use the term “welfare.” This program that provides cash benefits was created via The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), and President Bill Clinton signed it into law on August 22, 1996. 

You might say that TANF was a reinvention of the traditional cash welfare program. It replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program – which is what my family survived on when I was growing up as a kid in poverty. There are some important differences between the two programs, including a time limit (in the case of TANF) and the funding structure. TANF is a block grant program, meaning states have broad leeway to determine eligibility guidelines and other program rules. 

The critical word in the program name – and one that Republican lawmakers have emphasized from the program’s inception – is “temporary.” Built-in time constraints incorporated into the program limit how long people can be enrolled. There’s also a work requirement aspect, with TANF recipients required to participate in work-related activities within 24 months of when they first begin receiving benefits. Each state can set its own guidelines dictating what actions qualify as a work-related activity that satisfies these requirements.

States are required to adhere to strict mandates with regard to work participation rates of TANF enrollees, so these policies tend to be diligently enforced. However, Republican lawmakers have long pushed for even tougher work requirements for safety net programs across the board – a goal that became a reality with the recently passed legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, which dictates mandatory work requirements for some safety net program participants. 

How TANF works

Technically, the federal government doesn’t give cash assistance to individuals. Instead, it provides grants to states, territories, and tribes – and those entities in turn then use these grants to fund their TANF programs, which distribute payments to eligible low-income families. 

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services—specifically, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA)—provides block grants to the states to administer TANF and other programs for needy families. 

Since each state sets its own TANF eligibility guidelines, income limits can vary from state to state (and may also fluctuate by county within the state). In my state, the income limit for a family of three is between $985 and $1,136 per month. Families cannot have more than $1,000 in resources, such as a savings account. 

Likewise, the amount of cash assistance given to families varies by state, as well, and also depends on factors like the number of children in the home and any other income or benefits the household receives. The median TANF monthly benefit amount for a family of three is around $550. Arkansas and Alabama have the lowest monthly TANF benefit amounts – in each state, a family of three would typically receive just slightly above $200. That’s barely enough to pay one or two utility bills, and definitely wouldn’t be enough to pay rent or buy a month’s worth of groceries. 

Potential changes to TANF 

It’s unclear exactly what changes may be on the horizon for TANF, but safety-net programs in general have been in the crosshairs of the current administration. The One Big Beautiful Bill specifically targets safety-net programs like Medicaid and SNAP, while administration officials have also recently floated the idea of imposing time limits and other changes on housing programs like Section 8. 

One area where changes to the TANF rules may be likely: work requirements. The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 called for the creation of pilot projects that would shift the focus to looking at families’ work and well-being outcomes instead of stressing the rigid work reporting requirements. That concept had strong interest: 22 states and Puerto Rico applied to participate, and five states were chosen for the pilot program in November 2024. Unfortunately, HHS scrapped those pilot programs in March of this year. 

The HHS has since posted a Request for Proposals announcement for a replacement pilot program, which will undoubtedly have a much different feel than the one envisioned by the Biden administration. “By emphasizing personal responsibility, state-led innovation, and pathways to self-sufficiency, the Trump Administration’s priorities for work requirements and performance measures in this pilot reflect a markedly different approach from the prior Administration,” the new RFP announcement says. 

If our leaders are seeking to reinvent TANF in a more effective (and compassionate) way, they could consider something along the lines of a guaranteed basic income approach. GBI pilot programs have already been shown to be effective in some U.S. communities and in other countries around the world. Realistically, that sort of program is unlikely to gain any sort of traction on a widespread national level anytime soon, and surely not during this current administration. 

Still, successful guaranteed income pilots across the country – in cities like Denver and Chicago – have proven that these programs can work. When the gutting of our safety net inevitably fails, these programs may serve as a blueprint that can guide leaders as to how to support poor families in a better way.