Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: The Politics of Grants: Presidential Influence on the Distribution of Federal Funds

该项目对总统在联邦赠款过程中的作用进行了广泛的调查。 该项目不仅研究了总统影响力的影响，还研究了它发生的方式。 为此，研究人员利用1996-2008年联邦赠款的原始数据库，研究了总统的影响力。 该项目的第一部分试图回答“赠款流向何处？“选举的竞争性和联邦资金的分配之间的关系进行了审查。 这项分析评估了在总统选举中有竞争力的州-摇摆州-是否会得到更多的赠款。 该项目的第二部分研究摇摆州是否在不同的时间段内获得更多的联邦资金，特别是随着总统选举的临近。 本节旨在更全面地了解总统在选举中的影响力。 第三，因为一些联邦机构更开放的政治影响，调查员检查机构设计和机构内的政治任命者的数量如何影响赠款分配的方式。 最后，调查员进行访谈，从官僚，利益集团游说者和国家官员的反应被用来评估的机制，行政分支的影响，在赠款过程中，其结果的更广泛的影响将显着推进我们的理解联邦制，总统选举，总统控制的官僚机构，以及在联邦赠款过程中的影响和政治压力。 这项研究提供了一个更完整的了解政治和政策的交叉点，暴露其对每个美国人的生活的影响。 由于个人、公司、学校、医院、州政府机构和成千上万的研究机构依靠联邦赠款来提供服务和信息，并推进知识，本研究旨在深入了解一个每天广泛影响社会的系统。 通过对联邦赠款过程和影响公共政策的外部影响和压力的全面分析，该项目将增加政治学和公共行政领域的知识。

This project provides a broad-based investigation into the presidential role in the federal grants process. The project examines not only the effects of presidential influence, but the ways in which it occurs. To do so, the investigator examines presidential influence, using original databases of federal grants from 1996-2008. The first part of the project seeks to answer the question "Where do grants go?" The relationship between the competitiveness of elections and the distribution of federal funds is exameined. This analysis evaluates whether states that are competitivie in presidential elections-swing states-receive more grants. The second part of the project examines whether swing states receive more federal funds druing distinct time periods, specifically as presidential elections draw near. This section seeks to provide a more complete understanding of presidential influence in the context of elections. Third, because some federal agencies are more open to political influence, the investigator examines how agency design and the number of political appointees within agencies affects the manner in which grants are allocated. Finally, the investigator conducts interviews where responses from bureaucrats, interest group lobbyists and state officials are used to evaluate the mechanisms of executive branch influence in the grants process.The broader impact of the results will significantly advance our understanding of federalism, presidential elections, presidential control of the bureaucracy, and the influences and political pressures in the federal grant process. This research provides a more complete understanding of the intersection of politics and policy in a manner that exposes its impact on the lives of every American. Becasue individuals, companies, schools, hospitals, state agencies, and thousands of research facilities count on federal grants to provide services and information and advance knowledge, this study seeks to offer insight into a system that broadly affects society on a daily basis. Through a comprehensinve analysis of the federal grants process and the external influences and pressures that influence public policy, this project will increase knowledge in the fields of political science and public administration.