How can third parties cover the 20 percent of added costs that federal funds will not reimburse?
In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Congress created a $5 billion TANF Emergency Fund; as of June 10, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had approved state requests for over $2.7 billion of these funds. A state can receive TANF Emergency Funds to reimburse 80 percent of its increased TANF or state maintenance-of-effort (MOE)[3] spending in 2009 and 2010 on basic assistance, short-term, non-recurrent benefits, or subsidized employment. (The increased spending is measured relative to spending in 2007 or 2008, whichever is lower.) As discussed below, extra help with food can be designed to fall into the category of short-term, non-recurrent assistance and thus qualify for Emergency Fund reimbursement. HHS allows states to apply for Emergency Funds in advance of the quarter in which they will be spent, so these funds can be used to create increased spending, which in turn qualifies for Emergency Fund reimbursement. This leverage is often referred to as the 4:1 mat
