{ "id": "R40486", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "R", "number": "R40486", "active": true, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov, EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "title": "Block Grants: Perspectives and Controversies", "retrieved": "2022-12-08T04:03:32.048493", "id": "R40486_23_2022-11-04", "formats": [ { "filename": "files/2022-11-04_R40486_dbeb2612e36fb207b6c7eea027c1bf902da083c4.pdf", "format": "PDF", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R40486/23", "sha1": "dbeb2612e36fb207b6c7eea027c1bf902da083c4" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2022-11-04_R40486_dbeb2612e36fb207b6c7eea027c1bf902da083c4.html" } ], "date": "2022-11-04", "summary": null, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "typeId": "R", "active": true, "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=R40486", "type": "CRS Report" }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 617716, "date": "2020-02-21", "retrieved": "2020-02-21T23:14:46.555381", "title": "Block Grants: Perspectives and Controversies", "summary": "Block grants provide state and local governments funding to assist them in addressing broad purposes, such as community development, social services, public health, or law enforcement, and generally provide them more control over the use of the funds than categorical grants. \nBlock grant advocates argue that block grants increase government efficiency and program effectiveness by redistributing power and accountability through decentralization and partial devolution of decisionmaking authority from the federal government to state and local governments. Advocates also view them as a means to reduce the federal deficit. For example, the Trump Administration\u2019s FY2020 budget request recommended that Medicaid be set \u201con a sound fiscal path ... by putting States on equal footing with the Federal Government to implement comprehensive Medicaid financing reform through a per capita cap or block grant.... [the proposal would] empower States to design State-based solutions that prioritize Medicaid dollars for the most vulnerable and support innovation.\u201d The Trump Administration\u2019s FY2021 budget request added that \u201cMedicaid reform would restore balance, flexibility, integrity, and accountability to the State-Federal partnership.\u201d\nBlock grant critics argue that block grants can undermine the achievement of national objectives and can be used as a \u201cbackdoor\u201d means to reduce government spending on domestic issues. For example, opponents of converting Medicaid into a block grant argue that \u201cblock granting Medicaid is simply code for deep, arbitrary cuts in support to the most vulnerable seniors, individuals with disabilities, and low-income children.\u201d Block grant critics also argue that block grants\u2019 decentralized nature makes it difficult to measure their performance and to hold state and local government officials accountable for their decisions.\nBlock grants have been a part of the American federal system since 1966, and are one of three general types of grant-in-aid programs: categorical grants, block grants, and general revenue sharing. These grants differ along three defining characteristics: the range of federal control over who receives the grant; the range of recipient discretion concerning aided activities; and the type, number, detail, and scope of grant program conditions. \nMost categorical grants are awarded through a competitive application process, can be used only for a specifically aided program, usually are limited to narrowly defined activities, and have more administrative conditions than other grant types.\nBlock grants address broader purposes, are distributed by formula, allow greater flexibility in the use of the funds, and have fewer administration conditions than categorical grants. General revenue sharing grants are distributed by formula, have few restrictions on the purposes for which the funding may be spent, and have the least administrative conditions of any federal grant type.\nProject categorical grants and general revenue sharing grants represent the ends of a continuum on the three dimensions that differentiate grant types, with block grants being at the midpoint. However, there is some overlap among grant types in the middle of the continuum. For example, some block grants have characteristics normally associated with formula categorical grants. This overlap, and the variation in characteristics among block grants, helps to explain why there is some disagreement concerning precisely what constitutes a block grant, and how many of them exist.\nThis report provides an overview of the six grant types, criteria for defining a block grant, a list of current block grants, an examination of competing perspectives concerning block grants versus other grant mechanisms to achieve national goals, an historical overview of block grants\u2019 role in American federalism, and a discussion of recent block grant proposals.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R40486", "sha1": "ca632d619972c12416985f7637929140db1ef44e", "filename": "files/20200221_R40486_ca632d619972c12416985f7637929140db1ef44e.html", "images": {} }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R40486", "sha1": "8b092d871cdada7f58a090568242b2d640e5d711", "filename": "files/20200221_R40486_8b092d871cdada7f58a090568242b2d640e5d711.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4862, "name": "Federalism" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 611526, "date": "2019-12-12", "retrieved": "2019-12-20T16:38:42.676615", "title": "Block Grants: Perspectives and Controversies", "summary": "Block grants provide state and local governments funding to assist them in addressing broad purposes, such as community development, social services, public health, or law enforcement, and generally provide state and local governments more control over the use of the funds than categorical grants. \nBlock grant advocates argue that block grants increase government efficiency and program effectiveness by redistributing power and accountability through decentralization and partial devolution of decisionmaking authority from the federal government to state and local governments. Advocates also view them as a means to reduce the federal deficit. For example, the Trump Administration\u2019s FY2020 budget request recommended that Medicaid be set \u201con a sound fiscal path ... by putting States on equal footing with the Federal Government to implement comprehensive Medicaid financing reform through a per capita cap or block grant.... [the proposal would] empower States to design State-based solutions that prioritize Medicaid dollars for the most vulnerable and support innovation.\u201d\nBlock grant critics argue that block grants can undermine the achievement of national objectives and can be used as a \u201cbackdoor\u201d means to reduce government spending on domestic issues. For example, opponents of converting Medicaid into a block grant argue that \u201cblock granting Medicaid is simply code for deep, arbitrary cuts in support to the most vulnerable seniors, individuals with disabilities, and low-income children.\u201d Block grant critics also argue that block grants\u2019 decentralized nature makes it difficult to measure their performance and to hold state and local government officials accountable for their decisions.\nBlock grants, which have been a part of the American federal system since 1966, are one of three general types of grant-in-aid programs: categorical grants, block grants, and general revenue sharing. These grants differ along three defining characteristics: the range of federal control over who receives the grant; the range of recipient discretion concerning aided activities; and the type, number, detail, and scope of grant program conditions. \nMost categorical grants are awarded through a competitive application process, can be used only for a specifically aided program, usually are limited to narrowly defined activities, and have more administrative conditions than other grant types.\nBlock grants address broader purposes, such as community development and social services, are distributed by formula, allow greater flexibility in the use of the funds, and have fewer administration conditions than categorical grants. General revenue sharing grants are distributed by formula, have few restrictions on the purposes for which the funding may be spent, and have the least administrative conditions of any federal grant type.\nProject categorical grants and general revenue sharing grants represent the ends of a continuum on the three dimensions that differentiate grant types, with block grants being at the midpoint. However, there is some overlap among grant types in the middle of the continuum. For example, some block grants have characteristics normally associated with formula categorical grants. This overlap, and the variation in characteristics among block grants, helps to explain why there is some disagreement concerning precisely what constitutes a block grant, and how many of them exist.\nThis report provides an overview of the six grant types, criteria for defining a block grant, a list of current block grants, an examination of competing perspectives concerning block grants versus other grant mechanisms to achieve national goals, an historical overview of block grants\u2019 role in American federalism, and a discussion of recent block grant proposals.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R40486", "sha1": "440fda16acdde3fc6afec0ae98e251b0866cb741", "filename": "files/20191212_R40486_440fda16acdde3fc6afec0ae98e251b0866cb741.html", "images": {} }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R40486", "sha1": "a5b25f85f9d9200d7ec9805c16f37e3f8c59bfd3", "filename": "files/20191212_R40486_a5b25f85f9d9200d7ec9805c16f37e3f8c59bfd3.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4862, "name": "Federalism" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 432663, "date": "2014-07-15", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T20:16:13.510094", "title": "Block Grants: Perspectives and Controversies", "summary": "Block grants are a form of grant-in-aid that the federal government uses to provide state and local governments a specified amount of funding to assist them in addressing broad purposes, such as community development, social services, public health, or law enforcement. \nBlock grant advocates argue that block grants increase government efficiency and program effectiveness by redistributing power and accountability through decentralization and partial devolution of decision-making authority from the federal government to state and local governments. Advocates also view them as a means to reduce the federal deficit. For example, Representative Paul Ryan, chair of the House Committee on the Budget, has recommended that the federal share of Medicaid be converted into a block grant \u201ctailored to meet each state\u2019s needs\u201d as a means to improve \u201cthe health-care safety net for low-income Americans\u201d and to save $732 billion over 10 years.\nBlock grant critics argue that block grants can undermine the achievement of national objectives and can be used as a \u201cbackdoor\u201d means to reduce government spending on domestic issues. For example, opponents of converting Medicaid into a block grant argue that \u201cblock granting Medicaid is simply code for deep, arbitrary cuts in support to the most vulnerable seniors, individuals with disabilities, and low-income children.\u201d Block grant critics also argue that the decentralized nature of block grants makes it difficult to measure block grant performance and to hold state and local government officials accountable for their decisions.\nBlock grants, which have been a part of the American federal system since 1966, are one of three general types of grants-in-aid programs: categorical grants, block grants, and general revenue sharing. These grants differ along three dimensions: the range of federal control over who receives the grant; the range of recipient discretion concerning aided activities; and the type, number, detail, and scope of grant program conditions. \nCategorical grants can be used only for a specifically aided program and usually are limited to narrowly defined activities; legislation generally details the program\u2019s parameters and specifies the types of funded activities. There are four types of categorical grants: project categorical grants, formula-project categorical grants, formula categorical grants, and open-end reimbursement categorical grants. \nProject categorical grants and general revenue sharing represent the ends of a continuum on the three dimensions differentiating grant types, with block grants being at the mid-point. However, there is some overlap among grant types in the middle of the continuum. For example, some block grants have characteristics normally associated with formula categorical grants. This overlap, and the variation in characteristics among block grants, helps to explain why there is some disagreement concerning precisely what is a block grant, and how many of them exist.\nThis report provides an overview of the six grant types, provides criteria for defining a block grant and uses those criteria to provide a list of current block grants, examines competing perspectives concerning the use of block grants versus other grant mechanisms to achieve national goals, provides an historical overview of the role of block grants in American federalism, and examines recent changes to existing block grants and proposals to create new ones.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R40486", "sha1": "571b7ec1f5911725faf5979e5f16ed7d2d4bf9cc", "filename": "files/20140715_R40486_571b7ec1f5911725faf5979e5f16ed7d2d4bf9cc.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R40486", "sha1": "459938e236f4b27413eaa5dfdb2b4cd0a73e02b2", "filename": "files/20140715_R40486_459938e236f4b27413eaa5dfdb2b4cd0a73e02b2.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 2164, "name": "Federalism" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc332893/", "id": "R40486_2014Jul15", "date": "2014-07-05", "retrieved": "2014-08-27T12:47:05", "title": "Block Grants: Perspectives and Controversies", "summary": "This report provides an overview of the six grant types with criteria for defining a block grant and a list of current block grants. It also examines competing perspectives concerning the use of block grants versus other grant mechanisms to achieve national goals, provides an historical overview of the role of block grants in American federalism, and discusses recent changes to existing block grants and proposals to create new ones.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20140705_R40486_c34d2e5ff51be22d38ffa5e5137790f3cc55dbd3.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20140705_R40486_c34d2e5ff51be22d38ffa5e5137790f3cc55dbd3.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Grants-in-aid", "name": "Grants-in-aid" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Federal grants", "name": "Federal grants" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Research grants", "name": "Research grants" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc287924/", "id": "R40486_2014Apr15", "date": "2014-04-15", "retrieved": "2014-06-05T20:55:02", "title": "Block Grants: Perspectives and Controversies", "summary": "This report provides an overview of the six grant types with criteria for defining a block grant and a list of current block grants. It also examines competing perspectives concerning the use of block grants versus other grant mechanisms to achieve national goals, provides an historical overview of the role of block grants in American federalism, and discusses recent changes to existing block grants and proposals to create new ones.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20140415_R40486_74d08210e96e73519f4af032013b5d5887fbd9d1.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20140415_R40486_74d08210e96e73519f4af032013b5d5887fbd9d1.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Grants-in-aid", "name": "Grants-in-aid" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Federal grants", "name": "Federal grants" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Research grants", "name": "Research grants" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc462288/", "id": "R40486_2014Jan16", "date": "2014-01-16", "retrieved": "2014-12-05T09:57:41", "title": "Block Grants: Perspectives and Controversies", "summary": "This report provides an overview of the six grant types with criteria for defining a block grant and a list of current block grants. It also examines competing perspectives concerning the use of block grants versus other grant mechanisms to achieve national goals, provides an historical overview of the role of block grants in American federalism, and discusses recent changes to existing block grants and proposals to create new ones.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20140116_R40486_fd91737cd51e23fe9f523010e11775872561e55d.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20140116_R40486_fd91737cd51e23fe9f523010e11775872561e55d.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Grants-in-aid", "name": "Grants-in-aid" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Federal grants", "name": "Federal grants" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Research grants", "name": "Research grants" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Block grants", "name": "Block grants" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Federal-state relations", "name": "Federal-state relations" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Economic Policy", "Health Policy" ] }