• limits the provision of cash assistance to families with a dependent child or pregnant woman;
• imposes a 60 month lifetime limit on the receipt of benefits;
• requires that a family's benefit be reduced if parents do not cooperate with child support officials;
• denies assistance to individuals convicted of a drug felony;
• denies assistance (for a period of 10 years) to any person convicted of fraud in the receipt of benefits in two or more states;
• denies assistance to teen parents not living in an adult-supervised setting; and
• denies assistance to non-citizens who arrived in the United States after 1996.

All states must enforce these basic eligibility and benefit provisions established under federal law.  Beyond these basic requirements however, states have broad discretion to establish other eligibility criteria and benefit levels for welfare assistance within their jurisdiction.  In general, eligibility requirements and benefits levels are a function of individuals earned income and assets,  but they vary significantly from state to state.

States are required to file State plans with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, detailing their eligibility criteria and benefit levels.  The state plans must also explain how states will ensure fair and equitable treatment of recipients, and what the state's administrative appeals process will be.