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Advocates urge reversal of TANF cuts and caution on new time limits and sanctions
Summary
Policy analysts, advocates and TANF recipients told the Committee on Human Services that the FY27 proposal preserves cuts to TANF that would harm roughly 16,000 families, while reducing TANF program supports and creating implementation risks for DHS.
Maria Manansala, a policy fellow at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute and co‑chair of the "TANF is Still Lifeline" coalition, told the committee: "The mayor's fiscal year 27 budget maintains major cuts to TANF that will hurt 16,000 families with children." She and other coalition members warned that elimination of the cost‑of‑living adjustment, reinstated time limits and harsher sanctions would erode cash assistance and disproportionately harm children and families in deep poverty.
Multiple TANF recipients gave first‑hand accounts of how modest benefits are used for housing, utilities and child care, and lawyers from Legal Aid and other organizations urged the council to retain a hardship policy and increase administrative capacity in DHS before new work requirements and time limits take effect. Witnesses repeatedly recommended restoring the TANF COLA, reversing the time‑limit elimination and funding administrative resources that will be needed to implement any policy changes equitably.
