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This Policy Announcement responds to the following questions posed by States regarding the use of State funds or Federal TANF funds to pay the costs of an optional food stamp program. These questions include: (1) whether State funds spent to provide food assistance under the State's optional food stamp program count toward the State's TANF maintenance-of-effort (MOE) requirement; and (2) whether a State may use Federal TANF funds to purchase food stamps for the State's optional food stamp program.
This Program Instruction explains the maintenance of effort requirements for State expenditures under the TANF program, outlines statutory penalties for failure to meet those requirements, and specifies State-by-State maintenance of effort expenditure levels.