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拨款过程中的作用进行了广泛的调查。该项目不仅考察了总统影响力的影响，还考察了这种影响发生的方式。为此，调查人员利用1996年至2008年联邦拨款的原始数据库，研究了总统的影响力。项目的第一部分试图回答这个问题：“赠款去了哪里？”研究了选举的竞争性与联邦资金分配之间的关系。该分析评估了在总统选举中竞争激烈的州——摇摆州——是否获得更多的拨款。该项目的第二部分考察摇摆州是否在不同的时期，特别是在总统选举临近时，获得更多的联邦资金。本节力求更全面地了解总统在选举中的影响。第三，由于一些联邦机构更容易受到政治影响，调查人员考察了机构的设计和机构内政治任命的人数如何影响拨款的分配方式。最后，研究者进行访谈，利用来自官僚、利益集团游说者和州政府官员的回应来评估行政部门在拨款过程中的影响机制。研究结果的广泛影响将大大促进我们对联邦制、总统选举、总统对官僚机构的控制以及联邦拨款过程中的影响和政治压力的理解。这项研究以一种揭示其对每个美国人生活影响的方式，对政治和政策的交叉点提供了更全面的理解。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拨款来提供服务、信息和推进知识，本研究旨在深入了解一个每天广泛影响社会的系统。通过对联邦拨款程序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.