The better and simpler answer is to just repeal the 17th Amendment. Then state legislatures would have a say in what they would accept in terms of strings. Right now, states are just local administrators for the federal governmenht with no say in the federal government. Tweaking the flow of funds won’t fix that. I liked post #45 on this.
Regarding post #45, I have to ask Slowhandluke the same thing I asked you: What can the Congress legally give to a State’s Governor such that the Governor is fine with giving up billions upon billions of dollars of State power? “How does a nice three hundred million dollar bridge to nowhere grab ya’? You won’t be in charge of overseeing that, of course. And it’s the Congressional representatives from your State that will get the lions share of the credit for ‘bringing home the bacon’. But surely won’t squawk if the State you’re empowered to govern gives up a few measly billion dollars in exchange for that three hundred million dollar pork project. Right?”