Pew: Federal Grants Up Overall, Not For Transportation

WASHINGTON — U.S. government grants to states for federal fiscal 2014 are about 18% higher overall than in fiscal 2008, after adjusting for inflation, with most of the gain in health care and losses in the transportation and education sectors, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

There was a temporary spike in federal stimulus aid to states during and immediately after the recession, due to stimulus legislation such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but that aid has been almost entirely phased out. Total grants to states remain above pre-recession levels, Pew found.

Medicaid is by far the largest federal grant to states, accounting for about 62% of total grant funding. Pew found that Medicaid grants rose by 35% between federal fiscal 2008 and 2014, adjusted for inflation. Grants for everything health-related except Medicaid, which accounts for only 4% of total grant funding, showed a 21% gain during the same period.

The next largest area, which accounts for 16% of total grants, is "income security," which includes temporary cash assistance, employment services, school-provided means and similar programs. These grants edged up only 1% during from fiscal 2008 to 2014.

Transportation grants account for 9% of total funding and education 7%. But the analysis found that between fiscal 2008 and 2014, transportation grants fell by 9% and education grants by 10%.

Anne Stauffer, director of fiscal federalism for Pew, said the analysis just tracked the statistical trends and did not delve into why the increases or decreases occurred,

Grants for everything else, which totaled 2% of all funding and includes agriculture, energy, natural resources and the environment, community and regional development, administration of justice, and veterans and services, fell by 13%.

Stauffer said she could not give out the dollar amounts that go with the percentages because the data is proprietary. Pew's analysis used data from the Federal Funds Information for States, which covers more than 90% of federal funds going to state and local governments and is funded by the National Governors Association and National Conference of State Legislatures.

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