Federalism and the U.S. Budget

A key part of a federal budget cutting should be to revive a central theme of the 1981 and 1995 budget-cutting drives — getting the federal government out of what are properly state and local activities. Constitutional federalism has taken a beating as federal aid to the states has doubled over the last decade to $646 billion this year. This aid goes to public housing, community development, urban transit, and hundreds of other local activities.