This report responds to PL 105-379, which mandated the USDA  examine options for the design, development, implementation and operation of a national database to track participation in federal means-tested public assistance programs.

This memo clarifies that any time all members of a household receive benefits under a program for needy families funded primarily through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, whether cash or other benefits such as services, the TANF resource rules apply and thus an income eligible working family can both own a car and obtain food stamps.

This report analyzes the findings from North Carolina’s Vehicle Exclusion Limit Demonstration, which excluded one vehicle per household, regardless of value, from the Food Stamp Program’s countable asset limit. Under current law, for most families, only the first $4,650 of the first vehicle’s value is excluded. Some have argued that because a reliable vehicle is often required to find and hold a job, the entire value of the first vehicle should be excluded.