LANSING – Michigan’s ongoing economic troubles have led to a slight increase in the overall federal spending in the state, according to a report released by the Senate Fiscal Agency, but the state is still at the bottom of the list in terms of federal spending.

The Citizens Research Council argued in its own report on the issue Monday that the state could do more to increase federal funding.

The latest federal spending results are from the 2004-05 federal fiscal year, the most recent date available under the U.S. Census Bureau, said the SFA.

If the federal government spent the average per capita amount in Michigan, then the state would see more than $13 billion more in spending, the SFA and CRC said.

“The economic distress that Michigan families, businesses, and governments have experienced in the past several years argues for more aggressive efforts to shape federal programs that address the issues facing this state,” the CRC report said.

When federal spending in five different groupings is considered, the state ranks 43rd in terms of per capita spending by the federal government, the SFA said.

Even that was an improvement over the 2003-04 fiscal year, when the state ranked 46th in terms of per capita spending, the SFA said.

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia received more federal money in 2005 than the percentage of their populations compared to the rest of the nation, according to the CRC, with Pennsylvania being the only Great Lakes state to receive more money than its population percentage. Thirteen states received proportional funding.

Helping in terms of spending was, ironically, the state’s poor economy, which has drawn more money in terms of unemployment benefits and Medicaid spending, the SFA said.

Most of the federal money goes toward retirement and disability programs, where Michigan ranked 8th in total receipts and the report notes the state received a larger proportional outlay for Social Security, the CRC report said. But in terms of other direct payments from the federal government, “Michigan recipients obtained comparatively little from federal housing assistance, agricultural assistance or federal employees life and health insurance.

In the 2005 fiscal year the federal government spent a total of $64.8 billion in Michigan, 2.8 percent of the total it spent on all the states. The state ranked 24th, its highest ranking, in terms of direct payments to individuals – other that retirement and disability payments – and ranked 49th, its worst, in terms of federal salaries and wages paid to residents of the state.

Michigan has very few federal workers, and few defense facilities and few major defense contractors.

While the state got 2.8 percent of the federal spending, it has 3.4 percent of all the U.S. population.

In the 2005 fiscal year, the U.S. government spent $6,414 per capita in Michigan, while the average per capita expenditure was $7,706.

Because the state improved its standing slightly in terms of federal spending, the $13 billion shortfall in terms of what the federal government spends was more than a $900 million improvement over the shortfall in federal spending in the 2004 fiscal year.

But the CRC noted several areas where the state receives a disproportional amount of funding, including education rehabilitation and literacy services, Medicare and Medicaid services, homeland security programs, housing assistance and transportation projects.

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