The federal government of the United States has several different types of grant programs in place, such as grant-in-aid programs, strings-attached grants, categorical grants and block grants. Let’s find out what the differences are, and which grants left-leaning and right-leaning politicians prefer.
Different types of grants:
- Early Federal Aid – These gave grants of federal land for establishing public schools in new territories to the west of the original thirteen colonies, particularly in the Northwest Ordinance, which was made to help develop the new territories which became known as the Midwest.
- Federal Grant-In-Aid Programs – These are programs that could not have happened until the Sixteenth Amendment was passed, allowing the federal government to have much more money to play with. These are grant programs that assist state and local governments. Currently, over 20% of all state and local revenue is derived from federal grants-in-aid programs.
- Federal Grants-In-Aid Programs with Strings Attached – This is a newer breed of grants-in-aid programs directed at state and local governments, where they only get that money if they follow some rules, basically giving the federal government more power and control, even in areas that aren’t traditionally in their control – consider the “string attached” to federal grants to states to help pay for federal highways that required a specific drinking age.
- Categorical Grants – This is a type of grant-in-aid given for particular projects, and are given on a project basis or formula basis. In project-basis grants, the federal government, through the use of administrative agencies, may choose a project to give money to, in order for that project to be completed. In formula-basis grants, the government may give a certain amount of money to a category, like highway funding, based on a formula, such as how much the state also contributed to that category, or what the population in a state is compared to other states. The federal government usually has tight controls into how this money is spent.
- Block Grants – This is another type of grant-in-aid given, where a block of money is sent to a state or local government, and the states that get this money are given a lot of freedom as to how to spend that money, as long as it is within the field it was sent for, such as health care, education, or community development block grants. These are given on a formula basis by the national government.
Political Reasoning Behind Different Types of Grants:
What the Progressive Left Thinks:
The politicians who are on the progressive side (the left) tend to think that the lives of people can be improved by augmenting and strengthening the power of the federal government. The left tends to be more federalist (that is, focusing on the federal government as opposed to state or local governments) in their thinking, rather than focusing on states’ rights. They see the national government as more able to improve conditions given its greater power, influence and resources than state governments. They also see the national government as having a greater understanding and awareness of social injustices, whereas the state is deficient in its ability to handle those same social injustices*.
Because the progressive believes in a strong central government, they use grants-in-aid programs with strings attached, such as categorical grants, as opposed to open-ended block grants, as a way to use the federal government to bring about the wanted change. They also use the grants-in-aid programs to allow for a more uniform, or standardized, approach to social issues and problems throughout the nation.
(*I disagree. There are many times social issues aren’t resolved at the federal level, so the issue is taken to the states. For example, before the 19th amendment was ratified, several states had already granted women some type of women’s suffrage.)
What the Conservatives Think:
The politicians who have a more conservative philosophy of government (the right) tend to look at the government as the problem instead of the solution. They tend to think that putting too much power into the hands of too few people tends to be corrupting, and that the national government, being more distant from the people than state or local governments, causes less representative democracy and republicanism. As noted, conservatives tend to be more for states’ rights, and tend to show less support for federalism. They tend to be opposed to federal grants-in-aid programs because the money is seen as lost if states and localities don’t take the money, but if they do take the money they lose some of their local independence and sovereignty, allowing themselves to be controlled more than they need to by the federal government.
They also see the spending of “free money” as something that causes state and local governments to get used to higher spending limits which contribute to wasteful spending, spending on things they would otherwise not spend money on leading to inefficiency and waste, and causing the government to keep growing like an out-of-control kudzu patch.
They also disagree with the philosophy that officials within the federal government way off in Washington are more able to judge and determine needs and goals than local officials at the scene of the social issue or infrastructure need – conservatives tend to be more supportive, if they have to take federal grant money, of block grants with much leeway in how it’s spent, than categorical grants with lots of control and strings attached.
Why Politicians From Different Parties Prefer Different Types of Grants: Summary
Let’s go ahead and restate some things that were said in the last two sections.
The progressives, who are more oriented towards federalism than states’ right, prefer grants-in-aid with strings attached, such as categorical grants, because these allow the federal government to have more control and power, which, in their philosophy of government means improved social conditions, elimination of social ills and injustices, and for this to be done on a more standardized basis across the nation.
The conservatives, who are more oriented towards states’ rights than federalism, prefer not to have the federal government in charge of redistribution of grants, but if they do, prefer open-ended block grants because, in their political philosophy, it means less control by a centralized distant government and more control by a smaller, more localized, closer-to-the-people, government entity, allowing for more localized sovereignty.
