TANF: Funding issue must be resolved
(Editorial - Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)
On the same day in which Gov. Patrick Morrisey celebrated an audit finding $168 million in savings across executive branch services, he also threw a scare into vulnerable West Virginians when he said the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program is facing a structural deficit. He described the discovery as “problematic,” even as he said the seeds of this problem were planted in the previous administration.
“We saw there were changes that were made going back pre-COVID that kept coming and coming, and then the monies that were going in have led to a situation, a structural deficit of at least $40 million,” Morrisey said.
It’s true, spending one-time, COVID-era money on expansions that included no new revenue streams has gotten plenty of agencies across the country into a jam. But in a state like West Virginia, it’s hard to blame those who were looking to help the disproportionate number of families who need it. There were 4,254 Mountain State families receiving TANF in 2025.
The state spends approximately 36% of its TANF federal block grant on basic assistance. But Morrisey said subsidies for child care, clothing allowances and family support centers are among the items being reviewed to reduce the potential deficit.
Lawmakers were rightly skeptical of the carefully worded announcement and Morrisey’s plans.
“I’d like to see the data on how we’re $40 million in deficit on TANF, because our family support centers, our resource centers … they rely on these funds. It’s a big deal,” said House Health and Human Resources Committee Chairman Evan Worrell, R-Cabell. “Of course, I’m not going to support cutting child care subsidies or clothing vouchers at all. There’s got to be other ways.”
Predictably, one of the other ways lawmakers suggested was dipping into those purported savings.
“I know he just announced an audit through DoHS with potential savings there,” Worrell said. “Can we not fill that gap with that without cutting child care? It just seems kind of weird to talk about cutting child care subsidies that we just supported in this past legislative session.”
If money was being spent inappropriately, if potential revenue streams are being ignored — if there really was fraud, waste, abuse and poor decision-making that could lead to an eventually $40 million “structural deficit” — of course Morrisey is correct to want to root out the problems.
But the families who rely on TANF are not the problem. In fact, one could argue the aggressive determination by those in Charleston to avoid economic diversification and expansion, or any policy that might give those families hope, is the real problem.
If this is an indicator of the way in which Morrisey and lawmakers might be butting heads next year, decent public officials will have to work very hard indeed to do better for ALL of us.
