The budget reconciliation bill awaiting a final vote by the House changes several key aspects of TANF participation rate rules, while leaving other parts of the law unchanged.
If the pending TANF provisions become law, then effective October 1, 2006, each state will be required to meet a 50 percent participation rate for all families, and a separately calculated 90 percent participation rate for two-parent families, with each rate adjusted downward for any caseload decline that occurs after 2005 for reasons other than changes in eligibility rules.
If the state had had 100 participants in the prior year, it must have at least 115 participants to qualify for penalty reduction in the subsequent year.
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