1.   Instead, farmers would get a guaranteed but dwindling federal payment over each of the next seven years.

2.   Instead, participating farmers will get guaranteed but Declining federal payments.

3.   It represents the largest category of federal payments to the states.

4.   The constitution guarantees federal payments, but that does not mean they have to be made on time.

5.   Also, medical prices soared and states used fancy financial footwork to increase their federal payments.

6.   An adjustment down of the index could save the government billions in federal payments, but would reduce the rate of growth for numerous popular programs.

7.   And both measures also abolish government rules to idle land to qualify for federal payments.

8.   Another would be an increase in federal Medicaid payments that some key members of Congress doubt could pass muster in Washington.

9.   As workers go off the payroll, tax revenues decline even as federal payments for unemployment benefits go up.

10.   At academic medical centers, federal payments for research overhead, called indirect payments, total tens of millions of dollars a year.