Federalism

According to most public opinion polls, many Americans believe that the federal government is too big, both in the number of agencies it directs and in the scope of its powers. Some people also think that the daily business of Capitol Hill has no effect on their lives, in part because they believe that politicians--who live and work "inside the beltway"--don't understand their problems. This dissatisfaction with Washington, D.C., in recent years has renewed debate over the division of power between federal and state and local governments.

Federalism--the sharing of power between the states and the national government--has been a major issue throughout U.S. history. When the federal government was established by the U.S. Constitution in 1787, it only exercised limited or enumerated powers, such as making treaties and printing money. The Tenth Amendment of the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791, clarified that all other powers belonged to the states: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." Over the years, in response to national crises, many of the government's powers--particularly those over social programs-- were centralized to the federal level. However, in recent years, an increasing number of people on Capitol Hill and across the country want to "devolve," or transfer, power from Washington, D.C., to state and local governments.

State governments are largely responsible for managing the budgets and enforcing the laws in many policy areas, such as poverty and education. Many members of Congress want the states to take on even greater authority in these areas and others, including environmental protection and crime control. Some experts believe that state governments will be able to tackle these problems more effectively and efficiently than Washington. Others, however, doubt that the federal government will provide adequate funds and worry that some states don't have the necessary infrastructure to offer adequate services. However, giving more power to state and local governments is an experiment that many policymakers in Washington believe is worth trying.

Before the Great Depression, aid to the poor came mostly from churches and charity organizations. When millions of Americans fell into poverty in the 1930s, however, charities and state governments were ill-equipped financially to provide for the needy, and there was no federal policy in place to provide aid to low-income people. President Franklin Roosevelt and Congress wrote landmark legislation, known collectively as the "New Deal," to combat the effects of the Great Depression. The new legislation included massive job programs that provided work for unemployed Americans. Other programs, like Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and Social Security, offered financial assistance to people who could not work because of family responsibilities, age, or disability. This legislation also marked the beginning of an era of centralization; control over many services became more concentrated in the federal government.

The legacy of Roosevelt's New Deal continued with President Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" three decades later. In 1964 President Johnson declared that no society could be great with poverty in its midst. He implemented social programs designed to eliminate poverty by moving people up the social ladder through vocational education and job training. He also promoted programs, such as food stamps, Medicare, and Medicaid, to help poor and older Americans get enough food and adequate health care. Johnson called his plan the "Great Society."

President Richard Nixon advanced many of the New Deal and Great Society programs by establishing the Supplemental Security Income program and expanding the food stamp program. He also created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 to enforce laws such as the Clean Air Act (1963). In the words of political scientist Timothy Conlan, Nixon participated in "the greatest expansion of federal regulation of state and local governments in American history."

In his first inaugural address in 1981, President Ronald Reagan vowed "to curb the size and influence of the federal establishment" because "the federal government is not part of the solution, but part of the problem." Aiming to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, President Reagan promised to balance the budget by scaling back programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. However, he also proposed tax cuts and an increase in defense spending. Although the Democratic-controlled Congress went along with some of President Reagan's proposals, it would not cut Social Security or Medicare, two very popular programs. Consequently, the budget deficit ballooned and the federal government became, in many ways, even bigger. However, the Reagan presidency gave new prominence to federalism issues that would be promoted

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