[Excerpt] The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 created an Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF) within the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. The fund helps states, Indian tribes, and territories pay for additional costs of providing economic aid to families during the current economic downturn for FY2009 and FY2010. Thus, under current law, the fund expires on September 30, 2010. President Obama’s FY2011 budget proposes a new Emergency Fund; the budget proposal also proposes some modifications to the emergency funds. This report describes the TANF ECF as well as proposals to extend and modify TANF emergency funding.