How does the federal government disperse funds in Alaska?
Federal spending makes up a significant portion of money going to rural Alaska. Aside from military spending, which accounts for a large part of federal spending, there are three major components of federal spending in Alaska: • Grants (comprised of Formula Grants and Project Grants); • Purchases, through federal procurement; and • Direct payments to organizations other than individuals. The 2003 ISER Federal Spending and Revenues in Alaska report states that overall total funding is fairly equally distributed across urban and rural Alaska; however, each receive varying shares of different components. As an example, defense spending is higher in urban areas and formula grants are higher in rural areas. The ISER report indicates that on a per capita basis, nearly $2,500 went to “rural” areas and approximately $1,500 went to “urban” areas. On a comparative basis, per capita project grant funding broke down as nearly $3,000 “rural” and slightly over $2,000 “urban”. According to a United S
