FEDERAL AID TO STATE LEGISLATURES: PROBLEMS AND POTENTIAL

Many scholars and other observers have argued that state legis-latures are ill-equipped to play a vital role in the federal system,1 and yet they must play such a role if pressing national problems are to be met. Government at all levels faces the difficulty of re-solving such issues as air and water pollution, urban blight, traffic congestion, inadequate housing, unemployment and underemploy-ment, racial unrest, educational and recreational deficiencies, and rising crime. As President Nixon has pointed out: "By their very nature these modern problems demand diversity of approach, inde-pendent creativity, citizen participation and involvement, local direction and coordination."2 National, state, and local governments are partners in the federal system. They are not partners in the traditional business sense of being equal; they are partners because all seek to improve the general welfare.3 With this goal in mind, a novel idea in federal