Federal Appropriations Research Articles

Correction to: The U.S. Homeless Student Population: Homeless Youth Education, Review of Research Classifications and Typologies, and the U.S. Federal Legislative Response

The author regrets that typographical error occurred in values on page 702, second paragraph, lines 3 and 4. The correct values are $69.61 and $55.78. These values are corrected by this erratum. The lines should now read as, “EHCY’s federal appropriations in 2009 totaled $65,427,000 for 939,903 homeless students.”

How Is CDC Funded to Respond to Public Health Emergencies? Federal Appropriations and Budget Execution Process for Non-Financial Experts.

The federal budgeting process affects a wide range of people who work in public health, including those who work for government at local, state, and federal levels; those who work with government; those who operate government-funded programs; and those who receive program services. However, many people who are affected by the federal budget are not aware of or do not understand how it is appropriated or executed. This commentary is intended to give non-financial experts an overview of the federal budget process to address public health emergencies. Using CDC as an example, we provide: (1) a brief overview of the annual budget formulation and appropriation process; (2) a description of execution and implementation of the federal budget; and (3) an overview of emergency supplemental appropriations, using as examples the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak, and the 2016 Zika epidemic. Public health emergencies require rapid coordinated responses among Congress, government agencies, partners, and sometimes foreign, state, and local governments. It is important to have an understanding of the appropriation process, including supplemental appropriations that might come into play during public health emergencies, as well as the constraints under which Congress and federal agencies operate throughout the federal budget formulation process and execution.

Invasive Cancer Incidence and Survival - United States, 2013.

Although cancer represents many heterogeneous diseases, some cancer types share common risk factors. For example, conclusive evidence links cancer at multiple sites with tobacco use, alcohol use, human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, excess body weight, and physical inactivity (1,2). To monitor changes in cancer incidence and assess progress toward achieving Healthy People 2020 objectives,* CDC analyzed data from the U.S. Cancer Statistics (USCS) data set for 2013, the most recent year for which incidence and survival data are available. In 2013, a total of 1,559,130 invasive cancers were reported to cancer registries in the United States (excluding Nevada), for an annual age-adjusted incidence rate of 439 cases per 100,000 persons. Cancer incidence rates were higher among males (479) than females (413), highest among blacks (444), and ranged by state from 364 (New Mexico) to 512 (Kentucky) per 100,000 persons (359 in Puerto Rico). The proportion of persons with cancer who survived ≥5 years after diagnosis was 67%. This proportion was the same for males and females (67%), but lower among blacks (62%) than among whites (67%). Cancer surveillance data are key to cancer epidemiologic and clinical outcomes research, program planning and monitoring, resource allocation, and state and federal appropriations accountability.

Racing the Clock: Deadlines, Conflict, and Negotiation in Lawmaking

Deadlines are a ubiquitous feature of lawmaking in contexts such diverse settings as agency rulemakings, federal appropriations, and international negotiations. Despite the expectation that these deadlines will drive conflicting parties toward agreement or overcome bureaucratic inertia, their impact on decision making is mixed, often producing only modest improvements in speed, and perhaps sometimes none at all. On the downside, deadlines can sometimes reduce the quality of decisions or encourage brinksmanship when missing a deadline would have draconian consequences. If there is a case for deadlines, then, it is an uneasy one. Game theory suggests some possibilities for to increase the effectiveness of deadlines as action-forcing strategies, such as improving information sharing between actors and providing enforcement mechanisms for negotiated outcomes.

The Impact on Pork-Barrel Spending on Incumbent Fundraising

Pork-barrel spending is the use of federal money for localized projects which typically yield only a narrow geographic benefit. It is a commonly held belief that politicians utilize this spending to improve their chances of re-election. One way an incumbent can increase their chances of re-election is through increased fundraising. This paper investigates whether incumbents are able to use pork-barrel spending to bolster their campaign contributions. I find that for every $1 million of pork-barrel spending, incumbents are able to increase their campaign contributions by approximately $17,000. But, this effect is only present when the incumbent properly times the project. I also find that general federal appropriations do not have the same impact. These results support the belief that legislators knowingly use pork-barrel spending for their own personal benefit.

No Exceptions: Documenting the Abortion Experiences of US Peace Corps Volunteers.

Since 1979, US federal appropriations bills have prohibited the use of federal funds from covering abortion care for Peace Corps volunteers. There are no exceptions; unlike other groups that receive health care through US federal funding streams, including Medicaid recipients, federal employees, and women in federal prisons, abortion care is not covered for volunteers even in cases of life endangerment, rape, or incest. We interviewed 433 returned Peace Corps volunteers to document opinions of, perceptions about, and experiences with obtaining abortion care. Our results regarding the abortion experiences of Peace Corps volunteers, especially those who were raped, bear witness to a profound inequity and show that the time has come to lift the "no exceptions" funding ban on abortion coverage.

A community evaluation of Essential Air Services

Because the Essential Air Service (EAS) is a controversial federal program, a debate regarding its rehabilitation options and even its complete termination has been on the political agenda for more than a decade. For the beneficiaries of the program, most notably communities receiving subsidized air services and regional airlines supplying these services, EAS flights increase the accessibility of small and remote communities. For those people defending low government expenditures and free markets, EAS flights are a typical example of public intervention and wasteful government spending. In addition, increasing federal appropriations, rising per passenger subsidies, and the growing number of communities asking for subsidized air services have generated public attention, resulting in calls for improvements to enhance the efficiency of the program. Using Web-based survey data gathered from a pool of 95 city officials representing 56 EAS communities, this study aimed at contributing to the debate by attempting to provide evidence regarding how EAS communities perceived the importance of EAS flights to their communities, how they evaluated the then-current state of EAS flights, how they locally supported EAS flights, and how they assessed the possible rehabilitation options. The results of the survey revealed that EAS communities (1) assigned a high importance to EAS flights but not as high an importance to creating more jobs, improving the quality of education, and improving the quality of health services; (2) believed that the frequency of the flights was at the right level and that the airfares were expensive; (3) undertook marketing efforts to increase awareness of the flights, to attract air carriers to their communities, and to implement market studies for determining the potential of the flights; and (4) did not believe that rehabilitation options, such as employing alternative transportation modes, using smaller aircrafts, and consolidating EAS flights, would work, but they supported awarding longer-term EAS contracts.

A strategic approach for improving rural air transport in the United States

Commercial air transport in rural and remote areas of the United States has a long history. After the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, carriers were free to serve any cities and routes they wished. In anticipation of carriers gravitating toward large urban markets, the Essential Air Service (EAS) program was created to maintain commercial service in smaller and more geographically isolated locales throughout the United States. EAS has been continuously funded since 1978, but has recently attracted the attention of many fiscal hawks. Serving only six passengers per flight, on average, with costs approaching $200 million, there are long held concerns that EAS is a poor use of federal monies. The purpose of this paper is to highlight costs of the EAS program and identify systemic inefficiencies in the allocation of EAS resources. We show that service redundancies exist, with EAS markets being cannibalized by both peer EAS airports and other commercial alternatives. Further, we highlight strategic consolidation possibilities for EAS allocations and services, facilitating federal appropriations reduction without sacrificing existing geographic service needs.

Advancing the Science of Delivery

Advancing the Science of Delivery

The Causes of Fiscal Stalemate

Why do lawmakers in some states routinely pass late budgets, while their counterparts elsewhere rarely do? We argue that a late budget imposes a number of political and private costs on lawmakers, the magnitudes of which are shaped principally by institutions and features of the political environment. When the private and public costs of delay are high we expect the budget to be adopted on time, but when these costs are low the probability and length of delay should increase. We test our expectations using an original dataset of the timing of budget adoption for all states over a forty-six year period. As expected, we find that variables which shape the costs of delay - legislative session length, the reversion point in the absence of an on-time budget, and divided government - are key determinants of the probability of stalemate. The length of the stalemate, however, is best predicted by the complexity of the budget. Insights from our analysis can be applied to budgeting at the national level. In particular, they help explain variation in the frequency and length of late federal appropriations bills and suggest reasons why federal budgets experience more stalemate than those adopted by states.

RETAIL REDLINING: ARE GASOLINE PRICES HIGHER IN POOR AND MINORITY NEIGHBORHOODS?

Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor... Go shopping one day in Harlem-for anything and compare Harlem prices and quality with those downtown. (James Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name, 1961) It's not that these businesses are saying You, black people, you get out of my [establishment]. They are saying Come on in, but we're going to rip you off (Allison Bethel, Florida Assistant Attorney General, in U.S. News and World Report, 2000) I. INTRODUCTION The economics literature on discrimination in consumer markets is dominated by studies of differences in negotiated prices in two markets: housing (e.g., Myers 2004; Ondrich, Ross, and Yinger 2003; Yinger 1986, 1995) and automobiles (e.g., Ayres and Siegelman 1995; Goldberg 1996). A few additional studies examine price differentials in smaller markets in which prices are also negotiated such as trading cards (List 2004), car repairs (Gneezy and List 2004), and fish (Graddy 1995). Less evidence is available from numerous consumer markets in which prices are publicly posted and fixed. In this situation, individually targeted racial price discrimination is unlikely because, as Siegelman (1998) points out, it would require flagrant and illegal display of different prices for whites and minorities. However, firms may still adopt practices that increase probability that minorities or other targeted groups will pay higher prices. We use data on gasoline prices and station characteristics from three metropolitan areas to test for one such practice, commonly referred to as redlining. Following D'Rozario and Williams (2005), we define as a practice among retailers that results in lower quality goods and services and/or higher prices in areas with large minority or poor populations. Claims of retail redlining arise regularly in both academic sources and popular press, often involving catch phrases such as the poor pay more, the high price of poverty, or the poorer you are more things cost (Brown 2009; Downing 2007; Sturdivant 1969). Accusations of retail redlining also arise in courtrooms and politics. GM, WalMart, Burger King, Domino's Pizza, and KB Toys have been sued for discriminatory practices in minority neighborhoods (Fuller 1998; Jelisavcic 1996; Kaplan 2000; Smith 1996); in 1992, mayor of Los Angeles touted need for more equal access to supermarkets following Los Angeles riots; and, in 2009, Illinois Senator Roland Burris introduced a request to annual federal appropriations bill for a campaign to fight retail redlining on Chicago's south side (Burris 2009; Shaffer 2002). The bulk of empirical evidence on retail redlining comes from large gap literature, which explores variations across neighborhoods in accessibility, quality, and price of food sold at grocery stores. Much of this evidence suggests that grocery prices are higher in inner-city neighborhoods and that this is largely explained by lack of large chain stores in these areas (Chung and Myers 1999; Hall 1983; Kaufman et al. 1997; Shaffer 2002). By contrast, Hayes (2000), using a large nationally representative sample of price data from sampling frame used to construct Consumer Price Index, finds that prices are lower in poor neighborhoods but that discount is not constant across races. Poor whites and Hispanics receive discounts, but poor blacks pay similar prices as affluent whites. Turning to market for prepared food, Graddy (1997) finds that fast food meal prices increase by about 5% for a 50% point increase in percent black in a zip code. While food, which makes up a large portion of consumer budgets, is an important candidate for study of inter-neighborhood price variations, accusations of retail redlining extend beyond this single market. We provide evidence from a hitherto unexamined market: retail gasoline. …

Why Should Community College Faculty Write Grant Proposals?

Community colleges have seen dramatic enrollment increases (Kasper, 2002), and some are now offering 4-year degrees (Evelyn, 2003). They are eligible for more grants than in the past, and community college funding from state and federal appropriations is shrinking (Lawrence & Marino, 2003). For these reasons, it is imperative that community college faculty become involved in grant proposal preparation and submission. They will also gain professionally from participating in grant development activities.

Public Affairs Office

Public Affairs Office

The Cost of Implementing the Federal No Child Left Behind Act: Different Assumptions, Different Answers

In the debate about whether the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is "fully funded," 6 different definitions are used. The purpose of this article is to explore the implications of using each of these very different definitions. The 1st definition is that the law is fully funded because of large percentage increases in the federal appropriation. However, relative increases do not address actual costs. Second, claims that "unspent" federal monies show the law is adequately funded are found to lack empirical support. The 3rd and 4th definitions of fully funded are based on actual appropriations as compared with authorized appropriations, and with the definition of fully funded in the law itself. Although carrying significant political weight, these 2 definitions do not address the actual fiscal needs of states and districts. The 5th definition is whether new appropriations cover new administrative costs. New federal appropriations add 0.9% to total education spending, whereas new administrative costs cost states between 2% and 2.5% in new spending. The federal government has supplied $4.6 billion in new funds, whereas the new requirements for administering the new law require at least $11.3 billion in new funds. Sixth is the cost of teaching children to attain the state mastery levels as required by NCLB. Based on 40 separate adequacy studies, additional new costs to give all students standards-based opportunities are conservatively estimated at 27.5% or $137.8 billion in new money. Thus, implementation of the administrative and learning opportunities aspects of the law would require a new sum of $144.5 billion or an increase of 29% in educational spending.

Intergovernmental Success in Multi‐Component Flood Mitigation: The Lock Haven Flood Protection Project Experience

The City of Lock Haven is a small community near the geographical center of Pennsylvania. In 1982 Lock Haven had a population of about 8,500; 2,500 of whom were college students at Lock Haven University. The City, on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, has experienced severe flooding every seven years on average; most notably in 1936 and 1972. After the 1936 flood a federal protection project was planned but citizens rejected it because of local costs, loss of river access and property, and reductions to the tax base. Flood protection was revisited after the Hurricane Agnes flood of 1972 which wiped out Piper Aircraft and hit Hammermill Paper Company causing a desperate economic situation, even after a $18 million federal/state redevelopment project. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) was called in to study flood protection in the area. At the time, Corps reconnaissance studies, alternatives analysis, and preliminary plans did not require local cost-sharing. The city and the county provided the required Letter of Intent and the project moved forward. Costsharing occurred only if the project was constructed. In 1982 the process was stymied by the need for money from federal appropriations. Redevelopment fund remained so Lock Haven used them to incorporate the Lock Haven Flood Protection Planning Board (FPPB) under the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act. Members of the Board represented the city and county, nearby Woodward and Castanea Townships, Hammermill Paper Company, and Piper Aircraft Company. The FPPB hired a director to chase money, work with the Corps and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources on planning and design, and to lobby for necessary legislative action at the state and federal level. In the early 1990’s the Lock Haven Area Flood Protection Authority was created to act as the local sponsor with legal authority to contract, apply eminent domain where necessary, and otherwise accomplish local obligations under a Local Cooperation Agreement (LCA) which was signed in 1992. Constructing the $86 million flood protection project began soon thereafter. By 1995 the project was complete. Floods in 1996 provided the first test, which it passed! In September of 2004, remnants of Hurricane Ivan threatened the City again. Lock Haven’s flood protection prevented over $144 million in damages from these storms, according to the Baltimore District Corps of Engineers. Many elements contributed to Lock Haven’s success, two of which were the project’s design and cooperation among stakeholders at all levels.

Health policy pearls: np matters in federal appropriations

Health policy pearls: np matters in federal appropriations

America's Airports: Airfield Development, 1918-1947

Since the beginnings of motorized flight in 1903, air transport has become one of the backbones of long-distance travel and a key factor in the globalization process that has typified the second half of the twentieth century. Despite the importance of airports as nodes where different traffic modalities interconnect, their impact on the local or regional economy, and (especially in the United States) their spread and number, relatively few historians have studied airports seriously. Janet R. Daly Bednarek's groundbreaking book is therefore important in filling a gap in our understanding of the rise of the modern transport infrastructure. She points out that, after the construction of the first airport in Atlantic City in 1919, the evolution of airports in the United States through the mid-1940s was the result of an interplay between local actions, developments at the state legislative level, and federal policies. Bednarek focuses on municipal policy and city planning and draws out how and why airports became public, municipal, responsibilities. In the first few years after 1918, local interests responded to encouragements from the army and from the post office to construct flying fields purpose-adapted for use both as training grounds for the Army Air Corps and as way points for the proposed network of routes for the airmail services of the U.S. Post Office. While the army applied to local responsibility for the formation of a nationwide network of training grounds for the new branch of the national defense, post office officials pointed to the economic significance of speeding up mail deliveries. Local responses, Bednarek asserts, tied in with the general atmosphere of “air enthusiasm” of the period. City planners and urban boosters from the local chambers of commerce rallied behind the belief that the “air age” that was expected to arrive would make investments in airports profitable. But when financial returns failed to arrive, some form of federal involvement in airport construction and operation became inevitable. To this effect a National Airport Plan, which called for a nationwide system of civilian airports, was sent to Congress in 1939. Wartime circumstances militarized this plan into the Development of Landing Areas for National Defense (DLAND) program. This in turn formed the starting point for a renewed drive toward federal appropriations for the construction of municipal airports throughout the United States: the somewhat parsimonious Federal Airport Act of 1946.

Funding brain injury programs: the federal appropriations process.

Funding brain injury programs: the federal appropriations process.

NEW DATA LAW SETS OFF ALARMS

News Analysis Wendy Baldwin, deputy director of extramural research at the National Institutes of Health, was more than an hour late when she rushed onto the podium at the 3rd Annual Conference on Improving Clinical Databases, held in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 8. She was coming from a multiagency meeting at the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) where, she said, plans were being laid for a surprisingly quick rollout for revisions Circular A-110, the document that sets administrative requirements for federal grants. Under a little-known provision of the omnibus federal appropriations bill signed into law on Oct. 24, OMB has been directed amend Circular A-110 to require federal awarding agencies ensure that all data produced under an award will be made available the public through the procedures established under the Freedom of Information Act [FOIA]. The law further provides that if the agency obtaining the data does so solely at ...

Diseases Chasing Money and Power: Breast Cancer and Aids Activism Challenging Authority

Through the 1980s and early 1990s, the course of American health research was increasingly shaped by politically-aggressive activism for two particular diseases, breast cancer and AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). Even as national stakes rose, both in dollars spent and growing demands on the medical system, breast cancer and AIDS advocates made government policy-making for research ever more public and controversial. Through skillful cultivation of political strength, interest groups transformed individual health problems into collective demands, winning notable policy influence in federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Activists directly challenged fundamental principles of both government and medical systems, fighting to affect distribution of research funds and questioning well-established scientific methods and professional values. In the contest for decision-making power, those players achieved remarkable success in influencing and infiltrating (some critics said, undermining) both the politics and science of medical research. Between 1990 and 1995, federal appropriations for breast cancer study rose from $90 million to $465 million, while in that same period, NIH AIDS research rose from $743.53 million to $1,338 billion.