Issue Brief 9-19
April 23, 2009
Summary 

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, P.L. 111-5), Congress appropriated $5 billion for a new Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) emergency contingency fund (emergency fund). Total emergency funding for states is capped at this level for fiscal years (FYs) 2009 and 2010 combined. The new TANF emergency fund is in addition to the existing TANF contingency fund.

On April 3, 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released guidance on the emergency fund, including maximum grant allocations. The guidance and maximum allocations can be found at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/policy/pa-ofa/2009/pa200901.htm.

Emergency funds are now available for qualifying states.