•Press Release Health and Social Programs Inequality Poverty United States
Washington DC — A top safety net program in the United States, the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), is notoriously ineffective. As CEPR’s Algernon Austin illustrates in this analysis released today, among 13 assistance programs, TANF was among the weakest at reducing child poverty during 2020.
“The failure of TANF to address the needs of poor families shows that we need strong federal programs,” said Austin. “Too many state governments have abdicated their responsibility to craft a TANF program that works to keep children out of poverty.”
