The TANF system, the result of 1996 welfare reforms, distributes federal block grants totaling $16.5 billion to states for their uses. This piece explores the range of resources supported by states with TANF funds – relationship seminars and scholarships, for example – and the relatively modest portion (about half in one study) going to cash assistance, child care, and work supports to help needy families. Luke Shaefer says of the TANF system: “It’s not at all what was intended by the program when it started….It’s kind of a shell game.”

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