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Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT
"Opt-out” has become the most powerful phrase in the health care debate, thanks to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to include it in Senate legislation. If particular jurisdictions do not like a public option, they simply can exit the government health insurance system for uninsured residents. This is a very American idea, writes Darrell West. However, from a governance standpoint, the public option creates a worrisome precedent for other policy areas.
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Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Some say there’s little that can be done to promote metro areas’ status in U.S. federalism but actually there’s a ton that can and should be done. Mark Muro outlines remedies for the absence of middle-tier (metro or regional) government in the context of the U.S. federalism debate.
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Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Robert Puentes and Adie Tomer assess metropolitan air travel trends over the past two decades. They find that most travel is consolidated within a select group of 26 metropolitan areas, which contribute to the country’s highest volume corridors and produce the worst on-time performance. Their findings reveal serious implications for the country’s aviation infrastructure as passenger volumes are predicted to grow in the coming years.
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Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT
To help improve the energy efficiency and overall environmental sustainability of the U.S. transportation system, we will need to adopt policies that foster changes in the way Americans travel. In a new report Brookings researchers find that Germany may offer valuable lessons. Like the United States, Germany is a federal republic but it has taken impressive steps to improve transportation options, link transportation planning to land use, and advance other reforms – all while empowering metropolitan action.
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Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
America’s national economic crisis is also a metropolitan crisis, because metropolitan areas are the true engines of the national economy. So it matters intensely how well the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) empowers metropolitan leaders to boost prosperity. This paper finds that although ARRA is limited in its support for creative metropolitan-area implementation, it delivers critical investments in what matters to metros and holds out significant opportunity for metropolitan empowerment and problem-solving.
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Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
U.S. metropolitan areas are the under-recognized engines of America’s economy, and the nation must adjust its federal system—and American federalism—to support them so they can lead us back to prosperity, write Bruce Katz, Mark Muro, and Jennifer Bradley in a major framing essay for Democracy: A Journal of Ideas.
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Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
This perceptive book emphasizes the need for an overall analytical framework that can be applied to different countries to help analyze the current situation, identify potential areas for improvement, and assess their relative feasibility and the steps needed to promote them.
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Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
After years of benign neglect, the nation’s crumbling infrastructure is getting its public hearing. Bruce Katz delivered a major speech during a special session of the National Governors Association Winter Meeting dedicated to infrastructure financing, accountability and sustainability. He urged the critical importance of policy reform in shifting the infrastructure conversation from one focused on spending, to one focused on investing.
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Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
President Obama’s economic recovery package will succeed to the extent it juices metropolitan areas, the true engines of the U.S. economy. Mark Muro and Sarah Rahman argue that, for all the business-as-usual in Washington, the disconnected funding flows of the stimulus will strengthen the cause of regionalism in America.
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Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Before a housing conference at the NYU School of law, and prior to the president’s executive order creating the office, Bruce Katz outlined his vision of the function and role of a White House Office of Urban Affairs. “The new office has a powerful bully pulpit to set a vision for how federal policy can unleash the potential of America’s urban and metropolitan areas given their changing role and function,” Katz told conferees.
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Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Obama administration won a hard-fought and much needed victory this week as U.S. lawmakers prepare to pass a $789 billion stimulus package to revive the struggling economy. But as Bill Galston cautions, the compromise reached by congressional negotiators—which cut items dear to liberals and the business community, and included less for states than the House and administration wanted—is hardly sufficient to inspire public confidence in government and fix the economy.
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Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:50:23 GMT
Metropolitan Policy Program Fellow Robert Puentes explains the historic trends that have reduced the nation’s “driving footprint” and urges a new vision that reflects the realities of Americans staying out of their cars.
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Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Nevada, Idaho and Colorado lead the way in ending car dependence, according to a first-ever ranking, as do the metro areas around Austin, Indianapolis and Atlanta. A new Brookings report by Robert Puentes and Adie Tomer shows that other modes of transit grow in popularity, even as gas prices drop, suggesting a need for dramatic shifts in the way we fund transportation, build our communities and address greenhouse gas emissions.
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Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Today’s fiscally-constrained environment demands a new approach to infrastructure policy both for short-term stimulus and long-term prosperity. In this backgrounder, Robert Puentes outlines a strategic infrastructure investment path to upgrade our existing system, expand choices in moving people and goods and move us closer to energy independence.
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Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
A new Blueprint paper argues that the rising number of vacant and abandoned properties around the nation requires a more robust drive by the federal government to aid states and localities in land banking. The author, Frank Alexander of Emory University, recommends that federal policy should better capitalize local and regional land banking (the process or policy by which local governments acquire surplus properties and convert them to productive use), encourage code reform and regional collaboration.
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Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Trading of emissions under a cap-and-trade regime has received prominent attention as a possible approach to reducing the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change. On September 25, one regional cap-and-trade program, involving ten Northeastern states, has already begun operation through an initial auctioning of carbon allowances. This poses many important issues of federalism, writes Barry Rabe, as the federal government begins to play catchup with states and will have to give thought to sorting out federal and state responsibilities.
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Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT
In a recent National Academy of Science workshop, Andrew Reamer reviews the array of mandates that Congress has given the White House Office of Management and Budget to maintain data repositories and publish reports on federal expenditures—including grants and contracts—by geography.
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Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Robert Puentes calls on the federal government to empower major metropolitan areas by giving them direct transportation funding and the flexibility to make unbiased decisions between different modes of transportation. The federal government can then maximize performance by committing itself (and the recipients of federal funds) to an evidence-based, outcome driven, and benchmarked way of doing business.
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Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- June 11, 2008, 7:00 PM to 9:30:00 PM
- June 12, 2008, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM
Brookings's Metropolitan Policy Program hosted a national Summit for American Prosperity, which launched the next phase of the Blueprint for American Prosperity: Unleashing the Potential of a Metropolitan Nation, an ambitious, multi-year initiative to build long-term U.S. prosperity by reinvigorating the federal role in promoting the health and vitality of America's metropolitan areas.
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Tue, 13 May 2008 11:56:47 GMT
Bruce Katz, vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, unveiled a new framework for improving the federal partnership with states and metropolitan areas—a true Blueprint for American Prosperity—to better leverage the great assets of our metropolitan areas.
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Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- April 23, 2008, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
During the nation’s infancy, Alexis de Tocqueville meticulously studied America’s democratic experiment and defined the contours of American exceptionalism. Nearly 200 years later, scholars James Q. Wilson and Peter Schuck reconsider what defines the United States and its role in our rapidly changing world in Understanding America: The Anatomy of an Exceptional Nation (Public Affairs, 2008). William Galston moderated a discussion with Wilson, Schuck and Brookings scholars Don Kettl and Ron Haskins.
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Sat, 01 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT
This volume, cosponsored by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), defines an agenda for improving the performance of Americas intergovernmental system. The early chapters present the current state of practice in intergovernmental rel
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Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT
At a meeting of the National Grants Partnership, Andrew Reamer reviews the array of mandates that Congress has given the White House Office of Management and Budget to maintain data repositories and publish reports on federal expenditures—including grants and contracts—by geography. He identifies eight core mandates and discusses the current, and troubled, status of each.
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Sun, 29 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Opinion by Peter W. Rodman, The Washington Post (7/29/07)
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Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT
The central government in the United States has grown inordinately preoccupied with concerns better left to local authorities. Pietro Nivola examines an overextended government too often distracted from higher priorities, and offers several suggestions for how particular policy pursuits might be devolved.
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Mon, 05 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT
In their Capitol Hill Briefing on the Great Lakes Economic Initiative, Bruce Katz and John Austin provide an overview of the initiative and present major findings from the framework paper.
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Sun, 01 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT
Despite its long leadership in manufacturing and business, assets like major universities, and abundant natural amenities, the Great Lakes region's industrial legacy has left it struggling to develop the human capital, entrepreneurial culture, and dynamic metropolitan regions needed to compete in the global economy.
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Tue, 01 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT
In this Issues in Governance Studies paper, Barry Rabe examines the historic role of American states in national policy development and particular drivers that seem pivotal in the climate case.
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Tue, 01 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT
Katrina Fact Sheet
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Tue, 18 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMT
Testimony by Alice Rivlin before the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia.
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Mon, 03 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT
In this presentation, Bruce Katz summarizes the various forms of municipal and metropolitan governance that exist (both formal and informal); discusses the current fiscal condition of American cities; and offers various takeaway lessons for Britain as it continues to experiment with devolution and governance reform. Katz concludes that successful local government depends less on picking the "right" form of governance and more on ensuring that local governments possess sufficient fiscal powers to operate effectively.
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Thu, 01 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMT
In this paper, Margy Waller reviews the history of federal block grants for social services, the academic literature examining block grant outcomes, and recent federal proposals.
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Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMT
The District of Columbia confronts a significant structural imbalance in its fiscal capacity, due largely to its status as a city without a state and from revenue limitations caused by the federal presence.
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Sat, 01 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT
Sometimes nations face a stark choice: allow regions to federate and govern themselves, or risk national dissolution. Clear examples where federalism is the answer exist. Belgium would probably be a partitioned state now if Flanders had not been granted extensive self-government. If under Italy's constitution, Sardinia, a large and relatively remote Italian island, had not been granted significant autonomy, it might well have harbored a violent separatist movement—like the one plaguing a neighboring island, Corsica, a rebellious province of unitary France.
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Wed, 23 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMT
Interview with Thomas E. Mann; The Diane Rehm Show (3/23/05)
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Wed, 31 Mar 2004 00:00:00 GMT
How Federalism Could Spur Bipartisan Action On The Uninsured - paper by Henry Aaron
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Mon, 01 Mar 2004 00:00:00 GMT
Determining the appropriate balance of power between the national government and the states is the “cardinal question of our constitutional system,” wrote Woodrow Wilson in 1908. The question, he said, would resurface at “every successive stage of our political and economic development.” A current manifestation of the time-honored debate focuses on whether to grant state governments additional discretion in managing and integrating a wide range of federally supported services that, in principle, can help the nation’s poor earn a living rather than depend on public assistance.
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Mon, 15 Sep 2003 00:00:00 GMT
Interview with Claire Cooper and Bruce Cain, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (9/15/03)
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Fri, 01 Aug 2003 00:00:00 GMT
Policy Brief #122 by Pietro S. Nivola (August 2003).
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Wed, 02 Jul 2003 00:00:00 GMT
Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill discuss President Bush's Head Start proposal and argue that, given the vital importance of education to achieving equality of opportunity, the nation must find ways to improve both preschool education and the K through 12 school system.
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Wed, 07 May 2003 09:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- May 07, 2003, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
The Brookings Welfare Reform & Beyond Initiative sponsored a public forum to discuss President Bush's proposal to give states the option of controlling Head Start funds and integrating the Head Start program with other preschool programs. The forum brought together policy-makers from the Bush administration and Capitol Hill with researchers and child advocates to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the Bush proposal and discuss the future of Head Start.
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Tue, 01 Apr 2003 00:00:00 GMT
Opinion by Donald F. Kettl, Governing Magazine, (April 2003)
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Sat, 01 Feb 2003 00:00:00 GMT
Donald F. Kettl on how states are beseeching the White House for some dollars to tide them over while they get back on their feet. The White House isn't going for it.
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Thu, 09 Jan 2003 00:00:00 GMT
This Opinion by Bruce Katz in the Baltimore Sun, January 9, 2003 calls on Congress to provide states and cities necessary fiscal relief and to reverse its drift toward unfunded mandates and programmatic inflexibility.
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Fri, 01 Nov 2002 00:00:00 GMT
Alice Rivlin describes the state fiscal problem and suggests some solutions. The federal government could provide immediate fiscal relief to the states, and adopt a longer run program to mitigate cyclical swings in the state revenues. States could build more adequate reserves in good times. They could work together to modernize and harmonize their tax systems and share some jointly collected revenues.
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Tue, 15 Oct 2002 09:30:00 GMT
Event Information:
- October 15, 2002, 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM
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Tue, 20 Aug 2002 00:00:00 GMT
Despite widespread urban revitalization and renewal, Americans still prefer the suburbs to the cities. While many of the underlying causes of the urban predicament are familiar, there is also the less recognized possibility that regulatory policies o
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Thu, 01 Aug 2002 00:00:00 GMT
Opinion by Donald F. Kettl, in Governing Magazine, August, 2002
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Wed, 26 Jun 2002 09:30:00 GMT
Event Information:
- June 26, 2002, 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM
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Sat, 01 Jun 2002 00:00:00 GMT
Opinion by onald F. Kettl, Nonresident, Senior Fellow, Governmental Studies, the Brookings Institution, in Governing Magazine, June 2002
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Mon, 13 May 2002 00:00:00 GMT
Working Paper by Pietro Nivola, Senior Fellow, Governmental Studies, the Brookings Institution, for the Brookings Website, May 13, 2002
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Wed, 03 Apr 2002 00:00:00 GMT
Several questions about the block grant need to be addressed during the debate on TANF reauthorization, which must be completed by October 1, 2002. These include the size of the block grant and the formula for allocating it among states, whether additional funds should be provided to states during recessions, and whether the TANF performance bonuses should be revised or dropped. R. Kent Weaver outlines several policy options for addressing these issues.
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Tue, 02 Apr 2002 00:00:00 GMT
Thomas Gais and R. Kent Weaver discuss questions raised by the combination of work-focused policy mandates and increased state discretion.
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Fri, 01 Mar 2002 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Barry Rabe (Spring 2002)
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Sat, 01 Dec 2001 00:00:00 GMT
article by Pietro S. Nivola, Senior Fellowk, Governmental Studies, the Brookings Institution, in The Public Interest, Winter 2001
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Wed, 01 Aug 2001 00:00:00 GMT
Article by Pietro S. Nivola, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, Prepared for the Annual Meetings of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco, August 29-September 2, 2001
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Fri, 01 Jun 2001 00:00:00 GMT
Policy Brief #82, by Thomas Mann, June 2001
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Fri, 01 Jun 2001 00:00:00 GMT
Reform Watch Brief #1, by Pietro S. Nivola (June 2000)
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Fri, 01 Jun 2001 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Richard P. Nathan and Thomas L. Gais (Summer 2001)
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Fri, 01 Dec 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Martha Derthick (Winter 2000)
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Fri, 01 Dec 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Stephen Hess (Winter 2000)
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Fri, 01 Dec 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review, Winter 2000
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Thu, 10 Aug 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Weaver provides a definitive political history of the 1996 welfare reform lesgislation. He addresses three sets of questions about the politics of welfare reform: the dismal history of comprehensive AFDC reform initiatives; the dramatic changes in th
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Wed, 01 Dec 1999 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Diane Ravtich (Winter 1999)
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Wed, 01 Dec 1999 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by John J. DiIulio, Jr. (Winter 1999)
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Tue, 01 Dec 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Mary Graham (Winter 1998)
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Tue, 01 Dec 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Pietro S. Nivola (Winter 1998)
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Tue, 13 Oct 1998 09:45:00 GMT
Event Information:
- October 13, 1998, 9:45 AM to 1:00 PM
Approaching the thirtieth anniversary of Earth Day in 1999, Brookings held a conference on what the next generation of environmental policy should look like. EPA Administrator Carol Browner delivered the keynote address.
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Sat, 01 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
This book considers the problems faced by Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and other Latin American countries in their various experiments with political decentralization, identifies the challenges yet to be encountered, and attempts to find a way to reconcile
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Thu, 11 Jun 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Drawing on the insights of leading scholars and top state health care officials, this volume analyzes the policy and management implications of various options for Medicaid devolution. Chapters focus on such topics as Medicaid financing, benefits and
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Mon, 01 Dec 1997 00:00:00 GMT
Introduction to an edition of the Brookings Review, by Kurt L. Schmoke, Mayor of Baltimore (Winter 1997)
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Sun, 12 Oct 1997 00:00:00 GMT
Opinion by Donald F. Kettl, Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, in Wisconsin State Journal, October 12, 1997
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Mon, 01 Sep 1997 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Jean Bethke Elshtain (Fall 1997)
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Wed, 02 Oct 1996 00:00:00 GMT
Opinion by John J. Dilulio, Jr., Nonresident Senior Fellow, the Brookings Institution, in The Wall Street Journal, October 2, 1996
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Sun, 01 Sep 1996 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Charles L. Schultze (Fall 1996)
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Mon, 15 Jul 1996 00:00:00 GMT
As Congress shifts many now-federal powers to lower levels of government, it is missing a unique opportunity to resolve a fundamental flaw in America's governance structure: the absence of any authority at the metropolitan-region level.
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Fri, 01 Mar 1996 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review, Spring 1996
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Tue, 28 Feb 1995 00:00:00 GMT
This highly acclaimed report measures the distance between the Contract with America and the administrative realities of contemporary American federalism.