Nixing the strings on federal grants
Jonathan Wolfson of SPN’s Center for Practical Federalism has a worthwhile piece in The Hill on the Trump administration’s effort to cut the strings Washington agencies attach to federal grants.
A new OMB proposal would limit agencies’ ability to impose unrelated policy requirements on states simply because they accept federal dollars. Wolfson calls those requirements “green tape,” arguing that they can raise costs, delay projects, and pressure states to advance priorities Congress never even authorized.
Wolfson points out that the “The James Madison Institute has estimated that Florida currently obligates itself to spend an additional 40 cents for every federal grant dollar it accepts.”
Funds too are often weaponized for more hard-line ideological purposes.
As he puts it, “By cutting the green tape, the Trump administration is making sure those grants can actually do their job.”
— The Federalism Beat