The Federal Funding Engine: Twenty Years of Federal Grants, Power, and a Nation in Audit

v.2.1

Half a trillion in Federal Grants: How Five U.S. Presidents Shaped National Spending, Oversight, and Priorities Over Two Decades

As featured by: LinkedIn, The Sun Press

Photo by Michael Judkins

Estimated read time: 4 minutes

NORTH CAROLINA—When we talk about power in America, we talk about elections, court decisions, and bills signed into law. But behind the scenes, another engine runs: the federal grant system. Over the past twenty years, that engine has quietly moved nearly half a trillion into communities, labs, nonprofits, city halls, universities, tribal nations, and main streets.

And it never sleeps.

From President George Walker Bush through President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. and now into President Donald John Trump’s second term, the structure and scale of federal grants have shifted dramatically. More than money, federal grants reflect ideology, crisis response, and executive strategy. They show what America is trying to build — and sometimes, what it’s trying to fix.

The Bush Blueprint (2001–2009)

In his first two years, President George W. Bush approved just 124 grants totaling $40 million — an average grant size of $322,581. Bush-era grantmaking was tightly scoped, largely focused on education reform, emergency management, and the newly established Department of Homeland Security which today has an annual budget of $100 billion. It was the last era before digitized procurement became the norm. Grant listings still lived in file cabinets. Application portals were just beginning to form.

President Bush’s vision was conservative in size and scope, and built off the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999, a law to make federal grants easier to apply for and manage. Grants.gov launched in 2002.

The Obama Expansion (2009–2017)

Then came scale. In the first two years of the President Barack Hussein Obama II era, 6,551 grants were announced totaling $25 billion. President Barack Obama leaned into stimulus spending after the 2008 financial crisis. Infrastructure, healthcare, education innovation, and green energy became grantmaking priorities. By the middle of President Obama's second term, 21,000 grants had been announced totalling $65 billion — and by the end of his second term, the average grant size reduced by 50% to $2.7 million. He made more grants, to more places, but each slightly leaner in size.

The idea was distribution — spreading resources widely rather than concentrating them. We loved it. Nonprofits, local governments, and startups learned the system, built grants departments, hired consultants, and followed federal money like a GPS.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was a $787 billion stimulus package aimed at boosting the U.S. economy after the 2008 financial crisis through tax cuts, jobs, and infrastructure.

The Trump Reshuffle (2017–2021)

The era of President Donald J. Trump didn’t start fast — but he finished big. In his first year, 5,046 grants were announced totaling $13.3 billion. By his second year, that figure nearly doubled: 9,619 grants totaling $35.8 billion. Over the full term, the Trump administration era announced more than 17,400 grants and over $80 billion in public funding, nearly double the volume of the previous four years.

Trump signs coronavirus aid bill as tensions rise over next one - NBC News

The shift was not just in volume — it was in concentration. Fewer grants, bigger awards. The message: fund fewer initiatives, but do it at scale.

Trump’s grantmaking was also reactive. COVID-19 and its economic aftershocks demanded massive federal response. In 2020, $20 billion was announced in emergency relief grants, and state block awards, an $8 billion decrease from 2019.

The Biden Administration (2021–2025)

More than half of all federal grant funding since 2001 was announced during President Joseph Biden's administration. Nearly 3,000 fewer grants were announced in President Biden’s term, but federal awards surpassed $200 billion. In summer 2023 alone, nearly $50 billion in new grants were announced. Over a billion dollars in these categories alone: Environment with $20.1 billion, Science and Technology with $10.1 billion, Transportation with $4.4 billion, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act with $3 billion, and Other with $1.2 billion.

The message: America is rebuilding.

Biden's federal grants surged in volume and urgency.

A Second Trump Term Begins (2025+)

We’re halfway through the first year of Trump’s return. And it’s quiet — for now. Just over 100 grants have been publicly announced. That’s a far cry from the 5,000+ grants issued in his first year last term. But don’t be fooled. In May 2025, the White House reported over $5 trillion in Major Investment Announcements — quoting, “Made possible by President Trump’s leadership.”

The signal? Trump 2.0 may be waiting to strike big, all at once.

What It All Means

The federal grant system is not just paperwork. It is opportunity, power, and story. It tells us what the federal government values — and where it’s willing to invest.

At Grantscore, we track these trends daily. We analyze language changes in grant announcements, study grant data, and build tools to help nonprofits apply.

Here’s what we see next:

A likely surge in mid-2025 grant releases, possibly echoing Trump’s previous first-term ramp-up. Increased emphasis on artificial intelligence partnerships, especially in manufacturing, clean energy, and national security.

Final Word: Data Is Power

Grants are more than applications. They are the government’s strategy — and the nation’s investment in itself. Whether you're a pastor in Gary trying to build a food co-op, a youth mentor on the north side, or a founder in Indy designing smart mobility tech, federal grants are a door.

We believe in opening that door.

Photo by cottonbro studio

This is why we do what we do. Version 2.1 — updates coming.