Making Block Grants Work: A Model for Reforming Federally Sponsored Entitlement Programs

Abstract

As the federal debt increases, the inevitable point comes closer when Congress will be forced to act against the deficit. They can then choose an orderly reduction or disorderly cuts as applied in, e.g., Greece. An orderly reduction involves structural reforms to permanently reduce federal spending and return funding of current government programs to taxpayers. This paper proposes a transitional model for block grant reform that turns funding and executive responsibilities for joint federal-state funded entitlement programs over to the states.