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| Government |
| How Federal Grants Are Turning State Governments Against Their Own People |
| 2018-10-29 |
| [The Federalist] James Madison had already been buried in his Montpelier grave in 1836 when territorial leaders named the place that would become the capital of Wisconsin after him. But it’s safe to presume the "Father of the Constitution" who advocated for the "numerous and indefinite" powers of state governments would have appreciated the honor ‐ at first. It’s less clear ‐ given the massive infusion of federal money into state capitols and the accompanying loss of local control ‐ that he would be all that pleased today. Federal grants-in-aid to state and local governments have grown from just $7 billion in the 1960s to an estimated $728 billion in 2018. Almost a third of the money in many state government budgets now comes directly from Washington, D.C. In Wisconsin alone, the equivalent of approximately 5,000 full-time state workers are paid with federal funds. That doesn’t even include the thousands and thousands of University of Wisconsin System employees who are similarly compensated. The problem is pervasive. The name of the Badger State’s big job-training agency is the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. But with the federal government essentially issuing paychecks for almost three-fourths of the department’s employees, perhaps the United States Department of Workforce Development would be more accurate. Approximately one-fifth of employees in Wisconsin’s departments of Health Services and Natural Resources are paid with federal money. In the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, it’s one-fourth. In both the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, it’s close to half. Along with the paychecks comes a lot of obligation to Washington ‐ and an enormous bureaucracy. More than 1,100 of these federally compensated "state workers" appear to be engaged merely in administrative work. Even those government employees in Wisconsin who are not paid with federal dollars still often are bound by federal directives, both in Madison and in our smaller towns and cities. As part of the Badger Institute’s Project for 21st Century Federalism, we conducted numerous email surveys of educators. Among Wisconsin school administrators, 83 percent said it is likely there would be more innovation if they had more discretion over how federal funds are spent. Eighty-one percent said accountability would improve or at least stay the same. A majority of teachers surveyed told us federal paperwork is taking time away from students. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #2 Please be advised State Dept grants also subsidize 'refugee' locational services to include transportation, housing and employer salary reimbursements. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2018-10-29 18:36 |
| #1 As the nation increasingly fractures along urban/suburban/rural lines, where do most state government bureaucrats live and work. Where is their recruitment base and what is the full demographic analysis of it? Add in special recruitment programs that have made the civil service workforce in large states disproportionately represented in government and you get the answer. |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2018-10-29 17:30 |