Feminist Perspectives on Reauthorization: Introduction to Key Issues for the Future of Welfare Reform

July 2002

TANF Reauthorization 101: FAQs

About this Fact Sheet

This Fact Sheet was prepared by Vanessa Melamede and M.K. Tally and is based on the briefing paper, Feminist Perspectives on TANF: An Introduction to Key Issues for the Future of Welfare Reform, by Janice Peterson. IWPR’s work on welfare reauthorization is supported by the Ford Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

What is TANF?

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) was created under the 1996 welfare reform legislation, the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act,” to replace Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

What are the Key Elements of TANF?

The provisions in the federal law most often identified as the TANF program’s key elements are:

the elimination of the entitlement to cash assistance;

block grant funding structure;

mandatory work requirements;

financial sanctions used to enforce program requirements; and,

a five year time limit on federal cash assistance.

Also included are a number of specific “family formation” provisions, including: changed rules concerning assistance to two-parent families (giving states greater flexibility in serving two-parent families); the establishment of the so-called "illegitimacy bonus" (rewarding states with highest reduction in their non-marital birth ratio who have also reduced their abortion rate); the denial of assistance to some minor parents (those who are unmarried, not in school, and not living with relatives or other adults); and, the allocation of federal funding for "abstinence only" sex education.

What are the Impacts of TANF?

Research findings on welfare caseloads and employment have received the most attention from those who argue welfare reform is a success. According to a variety of data sources, welfare caseloads have fallen by 50 percent since their peak in 1994, employment rates among various groups of single mothers have increased significantly, and the majority (60 percent, on average) of those who leave welfare are employed (at least initially).

However, those who leave welfare for work typically earn below-poverty-level wages and, despite increased employment, often do not see their incomes increase because the loss of public assistance offsets the increase in earnings. Poverty rates for single mother families have fallen, but have declined far more slowly than welfare caseloads, and deep poverty (income below 50% of the poverty line) has increased among single mother families.

Family formation outcomes, while a central focus of recent welfare reform rhetoric, have received far less attention in the evaluation literature, and the evaluations that have been done suggest TANF has had little impact in this area.

What are the TANF Reauthorization Issues?
A number of issues and questions of critical importance to low-income women and their families are likely to be debated in the context of TANF reauthorization. These include:

The primary purpose of TANF
Should the primary purpose of welfare reform policy be to reduce the number of people receiving public assistance, reduce poverty, or promote marriage and two parent families?
The funding of TANF
Should the size of the block grant be reduced to reflect the decline in the number of welfare recipients, or should it be maintained/increased to provide more funds to "hard to employ" recipients and/or more services (such as child care) to a broader population of low-income families?
The structure of time limits
Should time limits be restructured to provide more flexibility for working recipients (i.e., “stopping the clock” when a parent is employed, caring for young children or going to school and/or increasing exemptions for parents with serious barriers to employment such as caring for a chronically ill or disabled child or dealing with domestic violence)?
The implementation of sanctions
Should federal protections be established against arbitrary sanctions at the statelevel and should states be required to provide more services to prevent sanctions?
Racial and ethnic inequities
Are there racial and ethnic inequities in the current system? If so, what can be done to monitor these inequities and prevent discriminatory practices?
The impacts on child well-being
What can and should be done to strengthen the safety net for children in the context of TANF (i.e., increasing participation in other programs such as Food Stamps and Medicaid where many eligible children are not receiving benefits)?
The adequacy and affordability of child care
Is there adequate funding for child care for working TANF recipients, working TANF leavers, and non-TANF low-income working parents? Should there be more federal regulation of child care quality?

The effectiveness of current "welfare-to-work" strategies
Is the "work first" approach fostering long-run economic security among welfare leavers or should it be replaced with an expanded definition of “work activities” to allow for more education and training? How can welfare-to-work programs better address the needs of the “hard to employ”?

Impacts of an economic recession
How will TANF operate in a recession with a basic structure (i.e., time limits and work requirements) that do not take the impacts of an economic downturn into account? Are state "contingency funds" adequate?

What is the Feminist Perspective on TANF Reauthorization?

A feminist vision for TANF reauthorization is grounded in the belief that ultimately welfare reform must be part of a larger agenda to promote economic justice and economic security for all members of society, including people from all ethnic and racial backgrounds.

Acknowledges that welfare receipt is a legitimate survival strategy for poor women and recognizes the challenges faced by poor women trying to balance paid work and caregiving.

Argues that poverty reduction, broadly defined, is the primary purpose of welfare reform and supports keeping adequate funds available in TANF block grants.

Calls for the restructure of time limits and sanctions to take into account the barriers to employment faced by many poor women.

Supports efforts to strengthen the safety net for children, particularly through strengthening the safety net for all low-income families.

Questions the effectiveness of “work first” strategies, emphasizing the gendered nature of women’s low wages and the many barriers to employment that welfare recipients face, such as a shortage of child care, transportation and discrimination based on race or ethnicity.

Supports calls to make TANF more responsive to cyclical changes in the economy and to reform Unemployment Insurance to be more inclusive of low-wage workers and workers with family commitments.

For more information see Feminist Perspectives on TANF Reauthorization: An Introduction to Key Issues for the Future of Welfare Reform by Janice Peterson (2001) and the websites listed below.

Informational Links:

Government Links: