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 fam...