The Trump Administration’s decision to halt these pilots goes against the law passed by Congress and harms low income families in the five selected states—and ultimately, vulnerable families across the nation.

TANF, which serves just 1 in 5 families in poverty, desperately needs reform. With TANF’s frozen, block- granted funding and strict work requirements, these pilot projects offered a critical opportunity for positive change based on measuring outcomes for families.

After a rigorous process, California, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, and Ohio were selected for the pilots, each with promising plans to make TANF more effective. Now, HHS says that states must reapply, under a not-yet-announced new procedure. This move will delay vital progress.

Twenty-two states (& Puerto Rico!) applied to participate in the pilot. That means nearly half of states are eager to move TANF in a better direction and better serve their TANF families!

Under TANF, states are forced to meet rigid “work participation rates.” The pilot projects aimed to move away from these work reporting requirements in order to create long-term economic stability and mobility for families, maximize earnings, and increase family well- being.

Congress should prioritize what’s best for children and families and reject cuts to TANF and SSBG.

This doesn’t just jeopardize child development support that children need, but also creates obstacles while their parents work or go to school.

If these cuts are made, nearly 40,000 children would lose access to child care. A further 2.4 million children’s access to child care and early education would also be affected.

Let’s pin for another day the conversation about how both of these programs are significantly underfunded already. Example? TANF’s block grant hasn’t been adjusted for inflation since it was created in 1996. It’s lost half of its value as a result.

Congressional Republicans are threatening to eliminate SSBG, at $1.7 billion each year, entirely. And they’re proposing to significantly reduce the $16.5 billion that’s spent on TANF each year.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) both fund vital supports to low income families, including child care and early education.

More tax cuts for the wealthy paid for by slashing support for families in poverty is the absolute wrong direction for our nation. TANF needs to be improved, not cut.

Making these requirements harsher and more inflexible will further cut the number of families TANF assists, and make it harder for people to meet their families’ basic needs.

www.cbpp.org/research/pov...

TANF’s work requirements are part of the reason very few families actually receive assistance from the program – only one out of every five families below the poverty line.

www.cbpp.org/research/fam...

The TANF program already has strict work requirements, which were further tightened in 2023. Those requirements focus on documenting a narrow set of activities, rather than promoting positive outcomes, and act as a barrier to benefits, not a path to employment.

In 17 states, a family of three gets less than $414 each month. And 10 states have the same cash benefit level as they did in 1996.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, program provides extremely modest cash benefits to families well below the poverty level. It is a vital support to the families who are able to receive it.

www.cbpp.org/research/inc...