The Selective Universalization of Domestic Policy, 1965-1990

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Growth and change in federal domestic programs has proceeded at a rapid pace over the last quarter century, producing a large and increasingly complicated maze of federal domestic spending programs. In this research, the investigators examine the evolution of these programs from 1965-1990 with the purpose of addressing basic questions about the inception and development of domestic spending programs. What are the typical characteristics of newly created programs? Why are some programs repeatedly reauthorized while other programs are terminated shortly after adoption? How do domestic programs change over time? Do the structural characteristics of programs affect their longevity or how monies are distributed to groups of recipients? Compared to conventional research on these topics, this project goes beyond examining spending levels, and asks how these programs are organized and who receives benefits. The approach taken in this project is based on a rethinking of the legislative norm of universalism. This norm suggests that members of Congress prefer to support domestic spending programs that provide "something for everyone." In its original conceptualization, the norm of universalism suggested that all programs, both new and old, provide benefits, albeit of varying levels, to every congressional district. In reality, this condition does not hold. The researchers suggest that domestic spending programs begin as fiscally modest project grants, bestowing benefits to relatively few congressional districts. To survive successive legislative reauthorizations, these narrow purpose grants must evolve by shedding their high application costs, lowering eligibility standards, and distributing monies to an increasing number of congressional districts. Programs which fail to conform to this pattern of change are expected to decline in size and to become candidates for termination. Hence only some programs are expected to be universalized. Among this select group, universalism will tend to occur only through time. In order to undertake this investigation the researchers are developing a new data base. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance chronicles the changes in domestic spending since 1965 and provides a rich source of information on which to base a systematic investigation of the evolution of domestic programs. A major part of this investigation will involve extracting data from these catalogs and compiling a data base on the population of domestic programs over the past quarter century. When complete, this data base will contain annual information for each program including appropriation levels, the type of program (e.g., formula grant, project grant, direct loans, non-financial assistance, etc.), the functional policy area served by the program, the categories of organizations and individuals eligible to apply and receive benefits, matching requirements, and other information.