The Reorganization of Federal Grants in the Reagan Years and the Backgrounds of It

卡特时期结束时，联邦对州和地方政府的赠款开始减少。我们把这一原因归因于该国转向更保守的情绪。里根政府在强烈的保守情绪下加速了联邦援助支出的下降趋势，并在其任期内保持了这一水平。里根政府削减最多的项目是伟大社会的核心服务项目，里根政府的整笔拨款提案是如此大胆，以至于实施的前景似乎非常渺茫，但1981年通过的《综合预算协调法案》（Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act）戏剧性地扭转了这些期望。和解进程使这个问题得以在总统的条件下得到解决。关于项目结构的关键决定被从由明确的资助发起人和受益人主导的各个委员会的竞技场中移除，并被置于国会和整个国家面前。“和解”也为联邦预算尤其是拨款的大规模削减发挥了重要作用，里根政府正是通过这一新的预算程序成功地进行了拨款改革。但这些成功在他的任期内从未重复。原因是国会对整笔拨款目标有更强烈的党派和意识形态怀疑。

Federal grants to states and local governments began to fall off at the end of the Carter period. We attribute this reason to the shift in the country towards towards a more conservative mood. The Reagan Administration accelerated downward trends in federal aid spending in a strong conservative mood and kept this level during his term. Programs targeted for the deepest cut the Reministration were services at the core of Great Society.The Reagan block grant proposals were so bold that prospects for enactment of them seemed very dim. But these expectations were dramatically reversed by the passage of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981. The Reconciliation process allowed the issue to be framed in the president's terms. Key decisions about program structure were removed from the arena of individual committees, dominated by categorical grant sponsors and beneficiaries, and placed before Congress and the country as a whole. The Reconciliation also played an important role for cutting down federal budget, especially f deral grants on a large scale.Reagan Administration succeeded in grant reform by this new budget procedures. But these successes were never repeated during his term. The reason was that Congress had stronger partisan and ideological suspicions of block grant objectives.