PSC 101 Paper 2 State and Local Competition [Elizabeth Fernandez]

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Political Science

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Dec 6, 2023

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Fernandez 1 Elizabeth Eva Fernandez Professor Monardi Paper 2 State and Local Competition 25 September 2023 Is Federalism Greater Competition Beneficial? Federalism is something where the United States was first to adopt. Along with getting accustomed to it, came positives and negatives. Throughout the years Federalism was something that allowed opportunities for citizens as state and local governments have more policy-making responsibilities, this results in wide variations in policies and a century long game of tug of war between national state governments. What does this necessarily mean? Tug of war is a competition, but in a good or bad way for the nation? When thinking of this question it is good to look at our nation's history, and where we are now. Where have the federalism’s competitions brought us now? With competition among states and localities, it is to attract individuals to maximize the efficiency of government services, an example being education, and Public Welfare , but it can produce problems like endangering the public's health. Back in 2001 the No Child Left Behind Act was introduced. This act was unknown as Federal intervention in education took place. The Act however was criticized over the over- reliance on standardized testing and its reduced school district and state autonomy. Even with the criticism the NCLB act was able to close the achievement gap between middle and upper middle class students and historically ill students served by their schools. However this act was undone in 2015 by the Every Student Succeeds Act which president Obama released in order to detach states from the NCLB Act. Obama's new Act allowed the return of power to the states to be able to evaluate schools. It was a reset for education federalism boundaries to favor states, allowing

Fernandez 2 them to exceed their position before 2001. This is something beneficial for the nation, allowing evaluating schools gave us the answer on how to better education for each individual state. Education is not the only issue at hand, there is also Public welfare to think about. A law was set in 1996 with the strict requirements on work and the limit to how long families are able to receive federally aided welfare benefits. This is something many in political circles thought was a waste of state resources that could be better used in hospitals or education. Local governments were outrageously trying to one up the other when it came to handouts that delivered unproven payoffs, creating a race-to-the-bottom effect. However it did not quite take place, federal agencies allowed state governments to take more control and responsibility and this has given them more flexibility when using their welfare block grant funds. This further permits states to help the heads of working families without forcing them to be subject to federal time limits. Seemingly, as much as it has been beneficial, what about public health? Throughout the years things got worse before they got better. When covid hit the federal government was unable to get on top of the escalating outbreak. Because of a law in 1997, the federal government was not able to command states to shut down schools, or open them, along with not requiring the vaccine. In 2012 there were more than two million Americans who were left uninsured, this was the result of when the supreme court underscored while emphasizing state rights, which blocked the efforts through the Affordable Care Act to expand medicaid. In the meanwhile, a legal dispute between the federal government and the states is ongoing over whether federal safeguards for patients in emergency rooms take precedence over state restrictions on abortion. Both sides of the argument also want a federal statute to formalize their positions. In other words, despite repeated exhortations in favor of federalism, neither side is prepared to embrace

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