Intergovernmental Relations: from the Legislative Perspective

Abstract

Federal assistance to state and local govern ments has expanded dramatically during the past decade, with most of this growth represented by special-purpose ("cate gorical") programs intended to promote social objectives of national importance. Even before the accelerated growth of these cooperative programs, periodic efforts were made to develop a more orderly grant-in-aid system. The proliferation of grants, particularly in the 1960s, made it more difficult for many state and local governments to compete for and admin ister federal aid programs and stimulated an intensified demand for grant simplification. General and special revenue sharing were the principal instruments of former President Nixon's New Federalism for promoting more orderly and simplified relations and for decentralizing decision making in fields of intergovernmental interest. These forms of assis tance, however, conflict with a traditional congressional con cern for targeting grants to more specific social objectives and maximizing accountability.