Federal Aid Fuels Corruption

In a recent study,I described 18 reasons why federal aid-to-state programs should be eliminated. Aid programs are federal subsidies for state and local activities such as K-12 schools, transit, roads, and housing.  One problem I did not explore in detail is how federal aid fuels political corruption. APolitico story the other day describes a classic case. Apparently, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been successfully pressing the Department of Transportation (DOT) —headed by his wife—to give grants to favored projects in his home state of Kentucky.   Corruption is a harsh word, but consider this contrast. On the one hand,Politico quotes the DOT spokesperson in response to the McConnell scandal: “No state receives special treatment from DOT … Discretionary grant programs are competitive and based on merit.”On the other hand, McConnell himself frequently brags about bringing home pork to Kentucky. He has never been shy about it, as thePolitico story illustrates. And in the story, DOT grant recipients in Kentucky are quite sure that McConnell ’s arm-twisting made the difference.If DOT grants are supposed to be allocated on merit, but they are actually steered by self-interested power politics, that ’s corruption. And that pork-barrel dynamic exacerbates inefficiencies in the aid system, such as the misuse of resources in low-value activities, as discussedin my study.It is more efficient to fund state and local activities with state and local money, and...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs