EVALUATING THE FEDERAL AID REFORM OPTIONS—SORTING OUT, BLOCK GRANTS AND TAX TURNBACKS: STATE REACTION

1981 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-333
Author(s):  
STUART W. CONNOCK
Keyword(s):  
Federal Aid ◽  
Block Grants

Community Development Dynamics: National Goals and Local Priorities

1984 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
S F Liebschutz
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Reagan Administration ◽  
Evaluation Study ◽  
Block Grant ◽  
Federal Aid ◽  
Block Grants ◽  
Local Flexibility ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
Development Block ◽  
Federal Administration

The dynamism of US federalism has been the object of considerable scrutiny among scholars in recent years as federal aid to states and localities increased dramatically. Among the various forms of aid that emerged over the past decade were block grants designed to give greater autonomy to local decisionmakers. However, it is possible to undermine that process goal by aggressive federal administration of the funds. In this paper, the question posed is: ‘whose policy preferences—national or community—have the greater effect’? Data from the field network evaluation study of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program by the Brookings Institution for the period 1974–1980 are used to examine local decisionmaking during the Ford and Carter administrations. Analysis of the decisionmaking process indicates the domination of local, as opposed to national, actors over the content of local CDBG programs. Findings concerning program choices and beneficiaries show the exercise of considerable local autonomy, at the same time that localities are responding to the preferences of the national government. The paper is concluded with a discussion of the future of community development processes and programs, given the preference of the Reagan Administration for greater local flexibility.

scholarly journals Strukturförderung und die Beachtung von Umweltbelangen in den USA

1998 ◽  
Vol 56 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 194-200
Author(s):  
Reinhard Klein
Keyword(s):  
Public Affairs ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
Federal Aid ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Army Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Block Grants ◽  
Bureau Of Reclamation ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Working Paper ◽  
Community Development Block Grants

Kurzfassung Diese zusammengefaßten Ergebnisse eines Teils einer Untersuchung, die der Autor 1997 in den USA erstellt hat,Klein, Reinhard F.: Environmentally Friendly Decision-Making in Structural Policies. An Analysis of the Mechanisms and Practice in the U.S. and Conclusions for the European Union. Hrsg.: LBJ School of Public Affairs (The University of Texas at Austin). — Austin TX 1997. = Working Paper No. 86. (Eine deutschsprachige Fassung ist beim Verfasser erhältlich.) erläutern zunächst Grundmerkmale strukturrelevanter Bundesbeihilfen, deren Verwaltung und Management sowie die Frage der Programmierung und Haushaltsplanung. Die beiden PauschalbeihilfenCommunity Development Block Grants undFederal-Aid Highway Program sowie Beihilfen derEconomic Development Administration stehen dabei im Vordergrund. Danach werden unmittelbare Entwicklungsmaßnahmen durch Bundesbehörden, vor allem desBureau of Reclamation und desArmy Corps of Engineers, sowie die politischen Eingriffe des US-Kongresses beleuchtet. Der Beitrag erörtert auch strukturrelevante Maßnahmen der Staaten und Beziehungen zwischen Verwaltungsebenen.

The Rise of Block-Granting as a Tool of Conservative Statecraft

The Forum ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-247
Author(s):  
Ryan LaRochelle
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Ronald Reagan ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Block Grant ◽  
Welfare Programs ◽  
Block Grants ◽  
Social Welfare Programs ◽  
Political Weapon ◽  
The Welfare State

AbstractThis article sheds new light on how conservatism has affected American state development by tracing the history of how block-granting transformed from a bipartisan tool to solve problems of public administration in the 1940s into a mechanism to roll back and decentralize the welfare state that had reached its zenith in the 1960s. By the early 1980s, conservative policymakers had coopted the previously bipartisan tool in their efforts to chip away at the increasingly centralized social welfare system that emerged out of the Great Society. In the early 1980s, Ronald Reagan successfully converted numerous categorical grants into a series of block grants, slashing funding for several social safety net programs. Block-granting allows conservative opponents of the postwar welfare state to gradually erode funding and grant more authority to state governments, thus using federalism as a more palatable political weapon to reduce social welfare spending than the full dismantlement of social programs. However, despite a flurry of successes in the early 1980s, block-granting has not proven as successful as conservatives might have hoped, and recent efforts to convert programs such as Medicaid and parts of the Affordable Care Act into block grants have failed. The failure of recent failed block grant efforts highlights the resilience of liberal reforms, even in the face of sustained conservative opposition. However, conservatives still draw upon the tool today in their efforts to erode and retrench social welfare programs. Block-granting has thus transformed from a bipartisan tool to improve bureaucratic effectiveness into a perennial weapon in conservatives’ war on the welfare state.

FEDERAL AID AND STATE FINANCES

1982 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-381
Author(s):  
STEVEN D. GOLD
Keyword(s):  
Federal Aid

EVALUATING THE FEDERAL AID REFORM OPTIONS; MUNICIPAL REACTION

1981 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-337
Author(s):  
TOM MOODY
Keyword(s):  
Federal Aid
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