Archive Report
Archive Report
Variable Grants: New Issue in Federal Aid
Claim of Poorer Station to Larger Allotments
For the first time in the long history of federal aid, Congress applied the “variable grant” principle at its 1946 session to the distribution of financial assistance for certain state and local activities which it considered in the national interest. The principle received full application in the bill establishing a permanent school lunch program. It was applied in part in two other measures: the bill authorizing federal aid to hospital construction and the bill liberalizing welfare payments under the Social Security Act. Extension of the principle to other and larger fields promises to be a leading issue at the 1947 session of Congress.
Under the variable-grant principle, funds appropriated for federal aid are ...