Welcome to Cato Daily Podcast, Tuesday, May 29th. I'm your host Anastasia Glova.

A recent Cato Policy Analysis by Director of Tax

Policy Studies, Chris Edwards, reveals that pork barrel projects comprise only a

small part of a broader problem of rising federal spending on activities that are traditionally

left to localities and states.

The study titled Federal Aid to the State's Historical Cause for Government Growth and Bureaucracy

can be found in the RSS feed to this

podcast or on the Kido Institute website. Chris is my guest today.

How much are we giving in aid to the states each year?

Well, currently we gave about 450 billion dollars a year to the states.

That is federal taxpayers subsidize the states about 450 billion dollars a year. That's the third biggest item in the

federal budget after defense and Social Security is subsidies to the states.

And when did this aid to the state start?

Well, back in the late 19th century, the first federal subsidies for the state started,

we went from one program in 1887 to today over 800 federal subsidy programs for the states.

In the first century of this nation, members of Congress would want to subsidize projects in their local districts like roads and canals and that sort of thing,

and Congress would not go along with subsidy proposals.

Occasionally some subsidies would wind their way through Congress, but then presidents would veto them.

Most legislators in the first century of the United States did not think that the federal government had any role in state and local projects and they were right.

The state and local projects like roads and canals and the like should under the Constitution

have been left to the states. Unfortunately members of Congress today have a very

different idea about the federal government. Is the Constitution silent on this

...