Grants-in-Aid
Categorical Grants – appropriated by
Congress for specific purposes; airport
building, welfare or school lunches.
Medicaid and Aid to Families with
Dependent Children = 85% of the
spending on Cat. Grants (Project/Formula)
Block Grants - appropriated by Congress
for broad activities; social services, health
services or public education. Ronald
Reagan favored this type of grant; New
Federalists- it gives the federal
government less control; Governors like
them; Mayors dislike them.
Creeping Categorization
Today, block
grants still exist,
but Congress is
always tempted to
add “strings” that
set requirements
for how federal
grants are to be
spent. Thus, block
grants are
becoming more
categorical.
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Case Study: Welfare Reform
Before 1996, welfare payments were
distributed through a program known as
Aid to Families with Dependent Children
(AFDC). In the 1980s, the program drew
heavy criticism. There were numerous
stories of "welfare queens", women who
cheated the welfare system, receiving
multiple checks each month and growing
wealthy while not working.
The AFDC system was under constant
attack in the 1980s; these continued in the
1990s, with Presidential candidate Bill
Clinton vowing to "end welfare as we know
it."
Welfare Reform Act of 1996
Toughening the criteria for receiving
welfare was the third point (out of ten) in
the Republicans‘ Contract with America.
Under the 1996 law, no person could
receive welfare payments for more than
five years, consecutive or nonconsecutive.
The most controversial change was
transferring welfare to a block grant
system. Some states simply kept the
federal rules, but others used the money
for non-welfare programs.
Once there were no strings attached, the
states could almost completely cut funding
for welfare.
California Reeling - California’s Zigzag on Welfare
Rules Worries Experts - Series - NYTimes.com
"Rockin' In The Free World"
Neil Young (1989)
There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
but I am to them
So I try to forget it,
any way I can.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
and what she's done to it
There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Mandates
unfunded mandate – when the
federal government requires the states
or businesses to carry out specific
actions or policies, but does not
appropriate any funds for that purpose.
Example: The Americans with
Disabilities Act requires nearly all
American business owners to make
their business premises available to
disabled customers.
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
S. 1 [104th]: Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (GovTrack.us)
NEA: Court Hears NEA Appeal in NCLB Unfunded Mandates Lawsuit