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The Effects Of Unfunded Mandates On The Federal Government Essay

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Since its beginning, the United States of America has gradually and steadily expanded the oversight and power of its own federal government. This expansion has resulted in a plethora of effects on the relationship between local state government and federal government both negative and positive. However, the increased impingement from the federal government onto local and state government constitutional rights, has created an imbalance. A major part of this imbalance has stemmed from unfunded mandates being imposed upon states. This imbalance has caused enough problems between the states and the federal government that the states have not only begun to question if federal mandates should go unfunded, but also whether or not the federal government has the authority to impose these mandates in the first place. To initially comprehend why unfunded mandates have the effect they do on the states, we must understand both when and why they came to be. This can be hard to to do as the definition of what exactly is an unfunded mandate is somewhat ambiguous and in constant debate . But in general, unfunded mandates initially started to come around right after World War II, though it wasn’t until the 1970s and 1980s that unfunded mandates truly rose to prominence. During these times the federal government began to form a series of national programs focused on a variety of issues ranging from education, to mental healthcare, to environmental services. The idea was that federal mandates

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