Temporary Assistance to Needy Families

Programs like Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, food stamps, and transitional housing are lifelines that work when people fall on hard times. We need to preserve them. But that's not what the Ryan "reconciliation budget" just passed by the House of Representatives would do.

The Obama stimulus plan included $5 billion to help states cover increasing TANF costs expected with the recession, but only $1 billion has so far come through.

As bleak as the poverty figures appear, the Census Bureau's numbers likely underestimate the depth and scale of the problem. Given the scale of the problem facing us, we must address the structural issues that frustrate our efforts to help poor Americans.

Now, more than ever, we need a functioning social safety net -- one that helps families keep food on the table in times of crisis, while providing a toe hold to a more economically secure future.

A society cannot survive without a safety net and we don't have one during the worst economic crisis in decades.

From 1996 to 2007, the number of single-parent families with children living below the poverty line fell by a whopping 2.5%. Who says there's no progress in America?