The Stimulus and the Spending Clause:

Several governors may reject some portion of the stimulus funding for their state. In a recent post, Jack Balkin suggests that "the governors' threats to refuse federal money actually help establish the constitutionality of the stimulus bill, and its proposed bargain of federal funding in return for state regulatory obligations." He writes:

if one or more states seriously suggests that they may refuse some or all of the stimulus money because of the federal strings attached, this tends to demonstrate that the stimulus bill is a constitutional exercise of the spending power: it is evidence that pressure to accept federal monies has not turned into compulsion, that a genuine offer is being made and that each state can still freely decide whether or not to accept the money.
I disagree, as I explain below.

Related Posts (on one page):

  1. Is the Stimulus Bill Constitutional?
  2. The Stimulus and the Spending Clause: