Will Procedural Due Process Survive After Aid to Families With Dependent Children is Gone?

Laura C. Conway

Georgetown University Law Center; Class of 1997

In 1996, President Clinton and Congress abolished the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and replaced it with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) through the enactment of the "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996." The most significant change this produced is the removal of entitlement status leaving families with no course of action when the government decreases, denies or terminates their benefits. This is defended by the requirement that states maintain objective criteria for eligibility and distribution of funds as well as "fair and equitable treatment" to all participants, but critics fear that enforcement will be hard to achieve and that the new Act may violate due process. Ms. Conway analyzes the question of due process claims, compares the aspects of AFDC and TANF, and describes the application of relevant state laws to the current TANF program.

In conclusion, the author summarizes the way that states have dealt with the changes in the law and offers hope that applicants and recipients of benefits will still be afforded due process protection. She calls attention to enforcement regulations and limits on discretion that will hopefully help protect the constitutional rights of all citizens of the United States.

Vol. IV, No. 1, p. 209 (1998)

Revised July 17, 2003 (MD)