AUSTIN – Today, TPPF’s Government Reform & Oversight Coalition released brand-new research urging the Texas Legislature to establish an Office of State Sovereignty for the purpose of better monitoring and coordinating federal monies to Texas governments. Both past experience and existing academic literature make clear that excessive federal aid to state and local governments can distort the policy landscape, prompt unnecessary growth in budgets and institutions, and result in lasting change detrimental to life, liberty, and property rights.
“The federal government’s largesse regularly influences recipient governments to think and act poorly. For example, consider that in today’s post-COVID funding environment, many Texas governments have continued funding pandemic-era positions and programs using own-source revenues now that federal aid has expired. This means property taxpayers are bearing a bigger burden for more government that was never intended to be permanent,” says TPPF’s James Quintero. “Today’s policy landscape lacks coordination, oversight, and accountability. This is an invitation for duplication, waste, and malgovernance. It’s time to do better.”
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Increased federal aid to local governments tends to lead to higher long-term expenditures and taxes,” said TPPF’s Ben Crockett. “During the Biden administration, millions of dollars in federal grants enticed Texas local governments into pursuing woke programs in the name of DEI and environmental justice. The state should not allow our cities, counties, and school districts to become dependent on D.C.’s politicized funding priorities.”
Key points from the research:
- Texas lacks a centralized system to oversee federal grants potentially flowing to more than 5,000 local governments.
- Federal grants frequently carry policy conditions that expand Washington, D.C.’s influence and can conflict with Texas’s limited government vision.
- Long-term reliance on federal aid tends to increase government spending, reduce discretion and choice, and create fiscal dependence.