The Declining Value of TANF Benefits

Cash assistance benefits for the nation’s poorest families with children fell again in purchasing power in 2013 and are now at least 20 percent below their 1996 levels in 37 states, after adjusting for inflation.  Seven states increased Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant amounts in 2013, with four of these based on annual adjustments.  An additional state enacted a TANF benefit increase that will take effect next year.  No state cut TANF benefit levels in nominal dollars this year.  While several more states increased benefits this year than in the last few years, most kept family grant levels unchanged, allowing inflation to continue to erode the benefits’ value.  With the country’s economic outlook looking somewhat more favorable in the coming year, states should halt the erosion of TANF benefits and slowly restore some of the purchasing power the grants have lost over the past 17 years.