1.7 Relationship Between the States and National Government

• Enumerated (expressed) powers: powers listed in the Constitution, mostly in Article I, Section 8. Examples: coining money, declaring war, regulating interstate commerce.
• Implied powers: powers not listed but reasonably needed to carry out the enumerated ones, justified by the Necessary and Proper Clause. Example: creating a national bank to help collect taxes and borrow money (see McCulloch v. Maryland in 1.8).
• Reserved powers: the Tenth Amendment (1791) says powers not delegated to the national government, nor prohibited to the states, are reserved to the states or the people. Examples: running elections, setting up local governments, licensing professions, and the broad police power to protect health, safety and morals.
• Concurrent powers: powers both levels hold at the same time. Examples: taxing, borrowing, making and enforcing laws, building roads and setting up courts.
• Prohibited powers: the Constitution forbids some actions to one or both levels. For instance, states can't coin money or make treaties, and Congress can't tax exports.

Critics said the Constitution would create a fully national government that wiped out the states. In Federalist No. 39, Madison answered that the Constitution is neither wholly national nor wholly federal, but a composition of both. In his terms, “federal” means based on the states as separate political bodies, and “national” means based on the people as individuals. Blending the two spreads power out, so no single part of government can gather too much of it, and it gives citizens more than one level of government to take part in.

He walks through the features:

Fiscal federalism is the national government's use of money to influence the states. Washington collects most tax revenue and sends a large amount to states, often with strings attached.

• Categorical grants: money for a specific, narrow purpose, with detailed rules on how it's spent. They're the most common type of federal grant, and the national government prefers them because they give it more control. Many are matching grants, where the state must chip in its own share, as with Medicaid.
• Block grants: money for a broad purpose, like community development or welfare, with fewer rules. States prefer them because they give more flexibility. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), created by the 1996 welfare reform law, is a block grant.
• Revenue sharing: money given to states and localities with almost no strings attached. The national government did this from 1972 to 1986, and it's the least used form of aid.
• Conditions of aid: rules a state must accept to get the money. The classic example is the 1984 law that withheld part of states' federal highway money unless they set a drinking age of 21.

A mandate is a requirement the national government places on states, whether or not money comes with it. Examples include clean air and clean water standards and the accessibility requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990).

An unfunded mandate is a requirement with no money to pay for it, so states must cover the cost themselves. States strongly object to these, and Congress passed the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act in 1995 to make it harder to impose new ones.

People who want more decisions made by states generally prefer block grants and oppose mandates. People who want consistent national standards generally prefer categorical grants and mandates. Both sides are arguing about the same question: who should decide.