Block grant
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Block grants are funds the federal government gives to state and local governments to spend on broadly defined purposes. For example, the federal government may offer block grants to help fund law enforcement, public health, or community development programs.[1]
Block grants contrast with categorical grants, which can only be used for specifically defined purposes and are subject to greater oversight.[1]
Background
Historical examples of block grant programs
The first time a member of Congress tried to enact a block grant was in a 1946 bill introduced by Representative Aime Forand (D-R.I.). The Forand legislation would have given states flexibility to design their own public welfare assistance programs. Congress created the first block grant 20 years later when it enacted the Partnership for Public Health Act, which replaced nine existing categorical grants related to health care.[1]
President Richard Nixon (R) planned to consolidate federal grant programs and, after congressional debates about his proposal, several more block grant programs went into effect during the 1970s.[1]
In 1981, Congress consolidated 75 categorical grant programs into nine block grant programs involving policies like elementary and secondary education, drug abuse services, and low-income home energy assistance. Between 1983 and 1995, Congress created six other block grant programs and by 2014 there were 23 federal block grant programs.[1]
See also
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Footnotes
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