This is another example of the ill-conceived 17th Amendment (17A) at work. More about 17A shortly.
FR: Never Accept the Premise of Your Opponent’s Argument
The states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to tax and spend for local law enforcement purposes.
In fact, the Supreme Court has clarified that that Congress is prohibited from appropriating revenue in the name of state power issues, essentially any issue which Congress cannot justify under its constitutional Article I, Section 8-limited powers.
“Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States.” —Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
Getting back to 17A as it relates to unconstitutional federal government spending on local law enforcement agencies, please consider the following.
The Founding States had not only established the federal Senate, but had given the power to elect senators uniquely to state lawmakers. This is because the Founders had expected senators to protect their states by killing bills which not only steal state powers, but also steal state revenues associated with those powers, the power to control local law enforcement departments in this case.
But now, as a consequence of 17A, low-information citizens go home after voting for their favorite federal senators and watch football, clueless to to the major constitutional problem that their corrupt senators are working in cahoots wtih the corrupt House to pass unconstitutional legislation, using unconstitutional taxes to win control of local law enforcement agencies as previously mentioned.
The 17th Amendment needs to disappear, and a bunch of corrupt senators along with it.
Founders understood:
“A people ignorant and free, never was and never will be”
Thomas Jefferson.
(yes, may be a paraphrase of his statement)