Wednesday, April 15, 2009

How does the national government use money and resources to influence state government? What are some examples

I've got this question for my government class.

I really have no idea what to put. It's due tomorow morning and I really need some help with it.


By making federal funds contingent on states meeting specific requirements, such as speed limits for road funding (as they did in 1974, to get the 55 limit) or education requirements for school funding. Another example is SCHIP (the children insurance program) that requires states to comply with certain requirements to get federal funds for their programs. Federal funds for state medicaid programs have requirements that states must meet. And so on... :-)

The Fed can use Grants and public works funds as a means of making a Governor or Congressman seem more "connected" to the "BIG DUDE". The President or VP, complete with all of his taxpayer provided trappings, like AIR FORCE ONE, AIR FORCE TWO, or MARINE CORPS ONE and the flagged limos, and the ever present press legions can come to your town as a show of support to State and Local officials and candidates. The national party committees can finance television, radio, and newspaper ads that may be pro or anti --whatever the state or local issue of the day may be.

The Party in power may direct foreign investment in the directions of his preferred states. This includes new industry, which means jobs and positive press releases.

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The No Child Left Behind Act is one way.

Rewards Schools and States That Narrow the Achievement Gap. Schools and states that make significant progress in closing the achievement gap will be honored with awards from a "No Child Left Behind" school bonus fund and an "Achievement in Education" state bonus fund.

Puts in Place Consequences for Failure. States that fail to make adequate yearly progress for their disadvantaged students will be subject to losing a portion of their administrative funds. Sanctions will be based on a states failure to narrow the achievement gap in meeting adequate yearly progress requirements in math and reading in grades 3 through 8. Progress on state assessments will be confirmed by state results on an annual sampling of 4th and 8th grade students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in math and reading.

Protects Homeschools and Private Schools.

Federal requirements do not apply to home schools or private schools. Protections in current law would be maintained.

Hope that helps with one example.You can find the answer to any Government question online preety easy just takes a little search.

I dont have examples other than the ones given so I will be abstract. States are soverign and the federal govt has specific areas in which it may make the laws of the land. The Fed govt cannot tell the states how to regulate their health saftey and welfare. So to exercise some control they use finding as leverage to get have things done in the states as they see fit.

Alright, the best way i can think of explaining this is by using my own home state of wisconsin. This was the last state in the nation to adopt a drinking age of 21. How'd the feds get us to do it you ask? Well, in most other states it was fairly easy, but in wisconsin, where we drink more beer per capita than Germany, the federal government was having problems getting us to comply. So they threatened to take away all the federal gas taxes from our state which goes into our highway building. If we hadn't complied, no more extra money to go into highways. Id've preferred dirt roads anyway: they're safer cuz they discourage people to drive, and how many 40 car pileups do you see on dirt roads? It'd be like a tough truck competition! Anyway this story IS a clear way of showing how Federal government uses tax money to force the hand of our increasingly weak (and sadly so) state governments.

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