Tennessee TANF: $221 million in state funds used in place of available federal TANF funding – By Anita Wadhwani (Nashville Tennessean) / Feb 7 2020
Tennessee has spent $221 million more in state funding than necessary on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program since 2013 — rather than using available federal funding, according to the Tennessee Comptroller.
Instead, the Department of Human Services accumulated $732 million in federal funds intended for poor, working parents. TANF, a federal anti-poverty program, provides cash and other assistance to low-income parents while they find jobs or get an education.
“We did spend state money when we didn’t need to,” Russell Moore, an official with the state comptroller’s office, told lawmakers Thursday.
Danielle Barnes, the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Human Services Wednesday Dec. 11, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo: Larry McCormack / THE TENNESSEAN)
The Tennessean first reported in December that DHS was largely using state money rather than federal dollars to fund a grant program for nonprofits in an effort to spend down its accumulated surplus.
On Thursday lawmakers heard for the first time the extent of the agency’s use of state dollars for TANF.
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