Federal funding

“ Federal grant program funding– Notwithstanding any provision of law limiting the Federal share, the areas eligible for assistance, or the authorizations of appropriations, under any Federal grant program, and in accordance with subsection (c) , the Authority , with the approval of the Federal cochairperson and with respect to a project to be carried out in the region— (1) may increase the Federal share of the costs of a project under any Federal grant program to not more than 90 percent (except as provided in section 3827 (b) ) ”

“ So formula grants are allocated to states based on certain criteria, like the number of miles on an interstate highway or a population in a given urban area. Most of our existing transportation funding flows through formula grants, which gives states a lot of flexibility on how to prioritize and spend their federal dollars based on what their needs are. ”

“ INTENT OF CONGRESS. It is the intent of Congress that funding provided to agencies of the Council to implement this subtitle shall supplement, and not replace, existing sources of funding for other programs. It is the further intent of Congress that agencies of the Council shall not enter into contracts or agreements for the development or procurement of new Federal assets for the System that are estimated to be in excess of $250,000,000 in life-cycle costs without first providing adequate notice to Congress and opportunity for review and comment. ”

“ As more facts are gathered, however, we may learn that the highway system’s overall performance has deteriorated. A major issue, then, will be to determine appropriate funding levels to maintain a reasonable performance level on our highways and to provide for those funds fairly and equitably in accordance with the benefits derived by the users of the highway system. Included in this issue is the question of what funding mechanisms can be used to adequately finance the Nation’s highway system—for example, shall we retain the Highway Trust Fund or establish a Transportation Trust Fund? ”

“ If the Congress will act on these proposals, more flexible funding will enable each Federal dollar to meet better the particular need of each particular school district. Advance funding will give school authorities a chance to make each year's plans, knowing ahead of time what Federal funds they are going to receive. Special targeting will give special help to the truly disadvantaged among our people. College students faced with rising costs for their education will be able to draw on an expanded program of loans and grants. ”

“ Congress' authority to condition the use of federal funds is not confined to spending programs as first launched. The Legislature may, and often does, amend the law, imposing new conditions grant recipients henceforth must meet in order to continue receiving funds. ”

“ Over the next 4 years the States can use this money in either of two ways. If they want to continue receiving Federal grants in such areas as transportation, education, and social services, they can use their trust fund money to pay for the grants. Or to the extent they choose to forgo the Federal grant programs, they can use their trust fund money on their own for those or other purposes. ”

“ I have again proposed several grant consolidations in the 1982 budget, including a new proposal that would consolidate several highway programs.
The pressures for growth in Federal use of national resources are great. My Administration has initiated many new approaches to cope with these pressures. We started a multi-year budget system, and we began a system for controlling Federal credit programs. ”

“ Every year, the press has a field day making fun of outrageous examples: a Lawrence Welk museum, research grants for Belgian endive. We all know how these things get into the budget, and maybe you need someone to help you say no. I know how to say it, and I know what I need to make it stick. Give me the same thing 43 Governors have, the line-item veto, and let me help you control spending.
We must put an end to unfinanced Federal Government mandates. These are the requirements Congress puts on our cities, counties, and States without supplying the money. ”

“ Part of our trouble is that we have been self-indulgent. For decades, we have been voting ever-increasing levels of Government benefits, and now the bill has come due. We have been adding so many new programs that the size and the growth of the Federal budget has taken on a life of its own. ”

“ But it is not a standstill budget, for America cannot afford to stand still. Our population is growing. Our economy is more complex. Our people's needs are expanding.
But by closing down obsolete installations, by curtailing less urgent programs, by cutting back where cutting back seems to be wise, by insisting on a dollar's worth for a dollar spent, I am able to recommend in this reduced budget the most Federal support in history for education, for health, for retraining the unemployed, and for helping the economically and the physically handicapped. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That the moneys constituting the said fund shall, from time to time, be applied in constructing such roads or canals, or in improving the navigation of such watercourses, or both, in each state, as Congress, with the assent of such state, shall by law direct, and in the manner most conducive to the general welfare; and the proportion of the said money to be expended on the objects aforesaid, in each state, shall be in the ratio of its representation, at the time of such expenditure, in the most numerous blanch of the national legislature. ”

“ I will shortly submit a budget to the Congress aimed at freezing government program spending for the next year. Beyond that, we must take further steps to permanently control Government's power to tax and spend. We must act now to protect future generations from Government's desire to spend its citizens' money and tax them into servitude when the bills come due. Let us make it unconstitutional for the Federal Government to spend more than the Federal Government takes in. ”

“ The other $11 billion will be provided by allocating $1 billion of new funds and converting one-third of the money going to the present narrow-purpose aid programs into Federal revenue sharing funds for six broad purposes--for urban development, rural development, education, transportation, job training, and law enforcement-- but with the States and localities making their own decisions on how it should be spent within each category. ”

“ This combined program, by increasing the amount of our national income, will in time result in still higher Federal revenues. It is a fiscally responsible program—the surest and the soundest way of achieving in time a balanced budget in a balanced full employment economy. ”

“ When a heavy federal tax is levied to support a federal program that offers large grants to the States, States may, as a practical matter, be unable to refuse to participate in the federal program and to substitute a state alternative. ”

“ Spending discipline requires difficult choices. Every government program was created with good intentions, but not all are matching good intentions with good results. My 2006 budget eliminates, or substantially reduces, more than 150 federal programs that are not succeeding, that are duplicating existing efforts, or that are not fulfilling an essential priority. ”

“ The body having national legislative authority has the right to reallocate proposed
spending and to reduce the total amounts in the federal budget. It also has the right to
propose an increase in the overall amount of expenditures to the Council of Ministers
if necessary, and provide notice of this proposal to the Minister of Finance. ”

“ The principal practical obstacle that prevents Congress from using the tax-and-spend power to assume all the general-welfare responsibilities traditionally exercised by the States is the sheer impossibility of managing a Federal Government large enough to administer such a system. That obstacle can be overcome by granting funds to the States, allowing them to administer the program. That is fair and constitutional enough when the States freely agree to have their powers employed and their employees enlisted in the federal scheme. ”

“ To the extent that federal funds received by the state for any program, project, activity, purpose, or expenditure are changed by federal authority or exceed the amount or amounts appropriated in the general appropriations Act or supplementary appropriation Act or Acts, or are not anticipated, such excess, changed or unanticipated federal funds are hereby continually appropriated for the purposes authorized and directed by the federal government in making the grant. ”

“ In addition to the management of the direct expenditure of taxpayer dollars through the budgeting process, it is essential to manage the costs associated with the governmental imposition of private expenditures required to comply with Federal regulations. Toward that end, it is important that for every one new regulation issued, at least two prior regulations be identified for elimination, and that the cost of planned regulations be prudently managed and controlled through a budgeting process. ”

“ This program is an example of that. The President's commitment remains just as firmly intact as ever. He was funding it at a level that we think they will be able to increase the funding to, a fivefold increase. And any agency, whether it's a private sector agency or a government agency, when you give people fivefold increases, there's always a question of will they have the ability to spend it and do so in a way that's effective. We believe a fivefold increase is the right way to get it done. To increase it any more than that is going to, again, leave money that goes unspent. ”

“ Budget Director Jim Miller and his deputy Joe Wright have been briefing me on the results of our government-wide management project, a project that's saved our citizens over 600 million man-hours in filling out forms and redirected $84 billion in Federal money away from wasteful overhead into useful service and purchases. ”

“ To keep our economy strong, we have to keep that strategy in place and finish the job. That's why I'm so proud that we've reached a bipartisan agreement to balance the Federal budget for the first time since 1969, when President Johnson was in the White House. ”

“ Let us heed the wishes of an overwhelming plurality of Americans and pass a constitutional amendment that mandates a balanced budget and forces the Federal Government to live within its means. Reform of the budget process--including the line-item veto and balanced budget amendment--will, together with real restraint on government spending, prevent the Federal budget from ever again ravaging the family budget. ”

“ The states are now called upon to develop extensive educational systems, to care for the insane, to punish criminals, to maintain courts, to preserve order, to build roads, and support the poor, besides erecting public buildings, and in the municipalities providing water, light, paving and the other necessary improvements of modern towns and villages. To have the federal government, therefore, step aside and reach out into the states for additional funds for federal support means interference with the states' fiscal systems and in the long run the weakening of their financial power. ”

“ Federal agencies shall provide opportunities for consultation by elected officials of those State and local governments that would provide the non-Federal funds for, or that would be directly affected by, proposed Federal financial assistance or direct Federal development. ”

“ Besides, by increasing the number of representatives, we open a door for the admission of the substantial yeomanry of our country, who, being possessed of the habits of economy, will be cautious of imprudent expenditures, by which means a greater saving will be made of public money than is sufficient to support them. A reduction of the numbers of the state legislatures might also be made, by which means there might be a saving of expense much more than sufficient for the purpose of supporting the general legislature ”

“ The centerpiece is something aimed at one of our toughest domestic challenges-deficit spending. It's about time we constitutionally mandate the Federal Government to do what every American family must do, and that is balance its budget. ”

“ It is the policy of the Federal Government to spend taxpayer dollars effectively, and more effectively each year. Agencies shall apply taxpayer resources efficiently in a manner that maximizes the effectiveness of Government programs in serving the American people. ”

“ It is well known that the subject of revenue is the most difficult and extensive in the science of government: it requires the greatest talents of a statesman, and the most numerous and exact provisions of a legislature. The command of the revenues of a state gives the command of every thing in it. He that hath the purse will have the sword; and they that have both have every thing; so that Congress will have every source from which money can be drawn. ”

“ Congressional earmarks divert Federal taxpayer funds to localities without the benefit of a merit-based process, resulting in fewer resources for national priorities or unnecessary spending above the requested level.
I urge the Congress to send me a fiscally responsible bill that sets priorities. Americans sent us to Washington to achieve results and be good stewards of their hard-earned tax dollars. ”

“ One area where we are already finding agreement is in our effort to spend the people's money wisely. This week, I announced that I will submit a five-year budget proposal that will balance the federal budget by 2012, while making the tax relief we passed permanent. ”