If this playbook sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve seen this movie before. In 1996, Congress created Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, a block grant that ended the guarantee of cash assistance for families who need it and handed states broad discretion over the money. One of us, Peter Edelman, resigned from the Clinton Administration in protest.
Thirty years later, we know the results. States diverted the funds, the block grant lost half its value to inflation, and by 2023 just 21 of every 100 families with children in poverty received cash assistance, down from 68 in 1996. TANF now reaches far fewer families and provides…
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