Federal grants have become more common over the last 60
years, due to the expansion and retraction of the size of the
federal government. The federal government began expanding in
the 1930s to deal with the Depression. It used federal agencies
to directly deal with problems. As time went on, the tasks were
turned over to the states, but the federal government still
remained involved through the use of federal grants to states
and localities. In the 1970s, Nixon's New Federalism put a
heavy emphasis on federal grants. …
