The Power to Say No
There is no Constitutional requirement that individual states must accept monies offered by the federal government to support needs affecting their citizens. However, given the challenging budgetary and fiscal realities that most states face today, the acceptance of federal aid is something that is a given, and is rarely turned away. Do you believe that states have a responsibility to turn away federal funding when conditions attached are fundamentally at odds with the beliefs of a majority of members of a given state legislature? Should states increase taxes and increase user fees (among other revenue generators) to compensate for funds declined from Washington? Do states fundamentally lose integrity when they accept money for projects, programs, and processes with conditions attached with which they fundamentally disagree?