House reauthorizes TANF for one year

The House has passed a one-year reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, a federal cash assistance program for low-income families with children. This extension carries the program through September 2017 and marks an end to discussions of program reform for the year.

Although TANF benefits are county-administered in just 10 states, 51 percent of the total TANF population resides in those 10 states: California, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.

The TANF reauthorization was included in the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act (H.R. 5170). This bill allows the federal government to solicit requests from state and local governments for social impact partnerships that will produce clearly defined outcomes benefiting local communities.

The legislation creates a Federal Interagency Council (FIC) on Social Impact Partnerships to coordinate the efforts of these pay-for-success projects, and it establishes a Commission on Social Impact Partnerships to assist the U.S. Treasury Department and the FIC in reviewing funding applications.

To fund new social impact partnership projects, H.R. 5170 draws $100 million dollars from the TANF Contingency Fund, which was funded at $608 million in FY 16. The TANF Contingency Fund is designed to make additional funding available to states facing unforeseen developments or economic hardships. In FY15, $356 million in TANF-contingency grants were awarded to county-administered states.

While the reauthorization of TANF is a positive step forward, NACo supports the TANF Contingency Fund and believes the amount of funding should both be increased and remain focused on current projects that can help families with the greatest need.

Social impact partnerships have the potential to greatly benefit local communities. However, states and localities may already enter into social impact partnerships on their own, and these projects should not be pursued by withdrawing critical federal support for needy families around the country.

Across the Capitol, the Senate Finance Committee is also reviewing S. 1089, the Social Impact Partnership Act. As currently written, this bill authorizes $300 million for social impact partnerships, but does not reauthorize TANF or draw from the TANF Contingency Fund. NACo urges the committee to reauthorize the TANF program, but preserve and increase the amount available in the TANF Contingency Fund.