1989] AMPLIFYING THE TENTH AMENDMENT 935
local governments combined.183 Concomitant with this ability to tax, borrow, and spend came an increased ability to regulate and control; an ability unforeseen by the states.184
THE FISCAL ENVIRONMENT THE FEDERAL POLITICAL PROCESS MUST NOW ADDRESS
The fiscal status of the federal government in 1989 has changed dramatically since 1913. In twenty-nine of the past thirty years, the federal government has spent more than it collected and for eight of those years annual deficits exceeded $100 billion.185 Presently, the interest payments on the national debt alone command a substantial portion of the annual budget.186 Additionally, one ACIR poll of the general populace reveals that the federal government, when compared to the state and local governments, is perceived as the most wasteful.187
It is necessary, however, to go beyond the data and perceptions and examine the fundamental mechanisms that produce fiscally responsible government and the relationship they have on the shift in power from the states to the federal government. Constitutional processes found in virtually all of the states include a balanced budget requirement,188 a gubernatorial line item veto,189 and debt restrictions.190 Other procedures are also present in some states.191 Comparing the spending policies of the states to those of the federal government shows a significant contrast. The federal government has no independent fiscal restraints and has been creating a fountain of money based upon deficit spending.192 Even though the spending of federal
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GNP. Total state and local government expenditures were just over $500 billion and amounted to approximately 11 % of the GNP. Id.
183. Id. at 8. In 1987, the debt of the federal government was over $2.3 trillion compared with about $700 million for all state and local governments. Id.
184. Randy Hamilton, Professor and Dean of the Graduate School of Public Administration at Golden Gate University, aptly summarized this situation with his golden rule of public administration: "[H]e who has the gold rules." ROUNDTABLE, supra note 9, at 20.
185. ADVISORY COMMISSION ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS, FISCAL DISCIPLINE IN THE FEDERAL SYSTEM: NATIONAL REFORM AND THE EXPERIENCE OF THE STATES, at 5-7 (1987) [hereinafter STATE EXPERIENCE].
186. Id.
187. ADVISORY COMMISSION ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS, CHANGING PUBLIC ATTITUDES ON GOVERNMENTS AND TAXES, at 5 (1987).
188. STATE EXPERIENCE, supra note 185, at 37-47.
189. Id.
190. Id.
191. Id. Other tools include tax expenditure limits, super majority requirements to pass a tax, indexed income taxes, fiscal review procedures, program evaluation, and "rainy day" funds. Id. at 38.
192. Id. at 9. The federal debt rose from one trillion dollars in 1980 to two trillion dollars in 1985. The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, otherwise known as the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act was an attempt by Congress to control itself. This effort has been unable to stop deficit spending as the bill itself specified decreasing levels of deficit spending. Gramm-Rudman Both Disappoints and Succeeds, 44 CONG. Q., at 2879-80. STATE EXPERIENCE, supra note 185, at 23-24. Irrespective of the Act's intent, the Supreme Court struck part of this attempt at fiscal discipline down in Bowsher v. Synar, 478 U.S. 714 (1986). This entire episode is a monument to the concept that for a rule to be effective, a political structure must be present and committed to its enforcement. D. EPSTEIN, supra note 154. Furthermore, fiscal restraints at the state level have generally proven to be successful and effective. STATE EXPERIENCE, supra note 185, at 45. The use of some of the fiscal restraints that have been tried by the states would probably be
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