The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides federal grants to states for a wide range of benefits, services, and activities. It is best known for helping states pay for cash welfare for needy families with children, but it funds a wide array of additional activities. TANF was created in the 1996 welfare reform law (P.L. 104-193). TANF funding and program authority were extended through FY2010 by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA, P.L. 109-171). TANF provides a basic block grant of $16.5 billion to the 50 states and District of Columbia, and $0.1 billion to U.S. territories. Additionally, 17 states qualify for supplemental grants that total $319 million. TANF also requires states to contribute from their own funds at least $10.4 billion for benefits and services to needy families with children -- this is known as the maintenance-of-effort (MOE) requirement. States may use TANF and MOE funds in any manner "reasonably calculated" to achieve TANF's statutory purpose. This purpose is to increase state flexibility to achieve four goals: (1) provide assistance to needy families with children so that they can live in their own homes or the homes of relatives; (2) end dependence of needy parents on government benefits through work, job preparation, and marriage; (3) reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and (4) promote the formation and maintenance of two-parent families. Though TANF is a block grant, there are some strings attached to states' use of funds, particularly for families receiving "assistance" (essentially cash welfare). States must meet TANF work participation standards or be penalised by a reduction in their block grant. The law sets standards stipulating that at least 50% of all families and 90% of two-parent families must be participating, but these statutory standards are reduced for declines in the cash welfare caseload. (Some families are excluded from the participation rate calculation.) Activities creditable toward meeting these standards are focused on work or are intended to rapidly attach welfare recipients to the workforce; education and training is limited. Federal TANF funds may not be used for a family with an adult that has received assistance for 60 months. This is the five-year time limit on welfare receipt. However, up to 20% of the caseload may be extended beyond the five years for reason of "hardship", with hardship defined by the states. Additionally, states may use funds that they must spend to meet the TANF MOE to aid families beyond five years. TANF work participation rules and time limits do not apply to families receiving benefits and services not considered "assistance". Child care, transportation aid, state earned income tax credits for working families, activities to reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies, activities to promote marriage and two-parent families, and activities to help families that have experienced or are "at risk" of child abuse and neglect are examples of such "nonassistance".

Why did major news outlets virtually ignore the only cost-effective plan for universal health care coverage—even though polls showed the plan had majority support? Why did leading journalists go out of their way to attack Bill Clinton’s rivals in the 1992 Democratic primary—while focusing unprecedented attention on Clinton’s personal life? Why do establishment media consider falling unemployment to be bad news? In the tradition of I.F. Stone and George Seldes, the contributors to The FAIR Reader probe the often mysterious connections between press and politics in the 1990s. The essays are filled with startling information about the critical issues of our time—from the Gulf War and the Clarence Thomas hearings to the debates over health care reform and NAFTA—documenting the deceptive, one-sided mainstream reporting that leaves the public in the dark. Particular attention is paid to the election of 1992 and the Clinton administration, showing how the media promoted, undercut, and finally shaped Clinton to fit a media agenda, the book demonstrates that systematic media bias poses a threat to the democratic process and the free flow of information to the U.S. citizenry. FAIR, founded in 1986, is the national media watch group dedicated to the principle that independent, aggressive, and critical media are essential to an informed democracy. In the nine years since FAIR was launched, it has gained national recognition for its well-documented studies of media bias, its challenge to powerful media figures like Rush Limbaugh, and its award-winning journal of media criticism and politics, Extra!. The FAIR Reader collects Extra!’s most incisive reporting on journalism and politics in the ‘90s. It will be invaluable to anyone interested in decoding the media agenda behind the daily news.

A dozen essays interpret case study research on the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. Weil and Finegold (Assessing the New Federalism project, Urban Institute, Washington, DC) overview the history of welfare reform and policy implications of the latest act. While the value of supporting low-income working families has been demonstrated, Act II requires meeting diverse recipients' needs through all economic phases. Appends notes on case studies. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.