Another way in which federalism is enshrined in the US Constitution is that while Congress can propose amendments to the Constitution, the amendments cannot be passed unless ¾ of the state legislatures consent and ratify the amendment. This shows federalism as it highlights the two separate layers of government, Congress on the national scale and the state legislatures on the state level. This method also protects federalism as it means that the central government cannot become too powerful, as it is not able to remove the powers of the states from the constitution without the states’ consent, which is unlikely to be given.
The current form of electoral system for both the Presidential and for Congressional elections also promotes the idea of federalism. This is because Congress must be voted for by members of each individual state, with these states then having representation in Congress. This is especially the case in the Senate where each state has two members. The Electoral College is also made up from delegates from different states who then vote on who would be President. This shows that the states do have some power when it comes to choosing the members of the federal government.
Explain the nature of Federalism under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Much against common thought at the time, due mainly to the Republican and Bush’s view on states’ rights and on decentralisation, and given the fact that Bush had previously been a state governer, the eight years during which George W. Bush was president saw a further expansion of the federal government and the imposition of the federal government policies and demands on the states through such laws as the No Child Left Behind and the Real ID Acts. Before Bush’s presidency had been the height of ‘New Federalism’, something which was largely championed by the Republican Party, especially by Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. This was largely due to the changing views on the feral-state relationship and even resulted in Bill Clinton saying that ‘The era of big government is over’ in his 1996 State of the Union Address.
In his first term, Bush increased the federal government spending by over 30%. There were several major causes behind this expansion of the central government during George W. Bush’s time as President. Firstly there were the wars with Iraq and Afghanistan. These required large amounts of government spending to finance
However while the increase in homeland security and national defence can be said to have been forced on the government following a national emergency in the form of the terrorist attacks on the 11th September 2001, there are a few policies which were implemented during Bush’s presidency that increased the role of the federal government that did not involve reacting after a national emergency.
There was during this period the expansion of Medicare in the US which also increased the role played by the federal government in terms of policy and finance and was widely considered to be the largest increase in the role of the federal government in healthcare since Medicare was first implemented. Bush also focused a great deal on education and introduced the ‘No Child Left Behind’ Act in 2001 which forced states to meet federal requirements over matters such as school syllabuses and teacher qualifications. This in particular is a step away from the Republican and conservative view, which had called for the abolition of the federal department of education in its party platform in 1996.
Finally one of the main reasons behind Bush’s apparent move towards a stronger central government was in part due to the Wall Street, housing and banking collapse in 2008. This led to him introducing major legislation and increase federal spending in an attempt to bailout the banks and limit the financial crisis.
Whilst it was surprising the Bush’s presidency saw an expansion of the powers of the central government, it is not surprising that during Obama’s presidency the role of the federal government increased as he leans towards the liberal side of the Democrats. One of the biggest and most controversial reforms implemented under Obama time as President has been the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is given the name ObamaCare. Obama’s administration has also sought to restrict the powers of the states in other ways as well, for example in its legal action against Arizona over its new laws over immigrants.
Under Obama’s stimulus package more money has been given to the states than most other stimulus packages that were set up prior to his presidency. It also needs to be noted that this increase in state funding has also increasingly become in the form of block grants rather, were the states are able to choose how the funds are spent specifically rather than having to listen to the federal government’s plans for what they must do with their money.
