Missouri TANF Penalties Hurt Working Families

Missouri workers face unprecedented attacks on their livelihoods, especially as they try to weather the ongoing economic recession. Missouri legislators are working this legislative session to further reduce state TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) benefits and force applicants to undergo drug testing.

No pending legislation is requiring corporate executives or employees of large businesses receiving government subsidies to be tested for drugs, though fraud and corruption by those recipients of government benefits greatly exceed fraud by low-income workers.

Missouri already provides one of the lowest allowable receipt of state TANF benefits in the U.S.; it's one of 15 states that max out a family's annual benefits to between 10 and 20% of poverty level. The federal poverty level is $18,310 for a family of three.

Over the last 15 years, the national TANF caseload has declined by
60 percent, even as poverty and deep poverty have worsened.

The numbers of families receiving TANF has drastically declined in the 15 years of the program as documented by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. More importantly, the program has not been able to provide basic services for those in poverty and deep poverty during the recent economic catastrophe because, as the report notes, states are using the benefits for other services.

CBPP and organizations like the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies have sounded an alarm to the US Congress and states to adequately fund TANF to provide benefits during the recession.

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TANF background: "Policy Basics: An Introduction to TANF" by Center on Budget and Policy Priorities