I don't really know what they're talking about, states almost never refuse federal funding for anything.

Louisiana refused federal highway funding for long enough that their highway system went to shit. They refused due to a federal mandate that the drinking age be raised to 21.

It isn't common, but states have absolutely forwent federal funding to stand their ground, and in my opinion they should do it more often. Its a huge weakness in our federal system that states are so dependent on federal funding for long lived programs.

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mattmaroon 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I did say “almost”. I’m aware it has happened.

But I have property in Arizona and I have a real hard time imagining this state saying no thank you if offered water. It’s sort of a big deal out there these days.

	▲	_heimdall 40 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Oh I hear you, I have family in Phoenix. My main concern there is that states can and should turn down federal funding if it comes with strings the state isn't interested in accepting. Our federal system becomes fairly useless if states are so dependent on federal funding that we can no longer have 50 different experiments running to try out different legislative approaches.