In 1991, Congress adopted this approach concerning federal surface transportation funds. Now it should extend the same idea to all types of federal funding of local governments and services. That would affect federal welfare, housing, and health spending, among others. Faced with this requirement, local governments in each region would have a powerful incentive to get together and form some type of regional planning alliance in order to get federal funds. Yet a devolution of power away from the national level would still take place but at a functionally far more effective level.
Opponents criticize more regional governance for two reasons.
Regional arrangements have proved very successful in both Portland, Oregon, and the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. In reality, both these objections are primarily motivated by the unwillingness of most local officials and many citizens to yield any of their existing powers, even though those powers are failing to solve many crucial social problems. Unfortunately, almost none of the specific changes in federal power and authority being considered by Congress are paying any attention to the regional level. It is time for Congressional leaders to recognize the spatial realities of American life by taking account of that level in each major devolution of federal authority they consider. Anthony Downs has been a Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies program of the Brookings Institution for 19 years.