Cite as: 503 U. S. 347 (1992)
Blackmun, J., dissenting
in Wilder, the statutory text expressly conditions federal funding on state compliance with the plan requirement and requires the Secretary to reduce payments to a State if "in the administration of [the State's] plan there is a substantial failure to comply with the provisions of the plan." 42 U. S. C. § 671(b). Under our holding in Wilder, these provisions of the Adoption Act impose a binding obligation on the State. Indeed, neither the petitioner state officials nor amicus United States dispute this point. Brief for Petitioners 17; Reply Brief for Petitioners 3, n. 2; Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 13-14.
What petitioners and amicus United States do dispute is whether the third element of the Golden State-Wilder-Dennis test has been satisfied: They argue that the "reasonable efforts" clause of the Adoption Act is too "vague and amorphous" to be judicially enforced. Aware that Wilder enforced an apparently similar "reasonableness" clause, they argue that this clause is categorically different.
According to petitioners, the Court would not have found the Boren Amendment's reasonableness clause enforceable had the statute not provided an "objective benchmark" against which "reasonable and adequate" reimbursement rates could be measured. Reasonable and adequate rates, the Boren Amendment provides, are those that meet the costs that would be incurred by "an 'efficiently and economically operated facilit[y]' providing care in compliance with federal and state standards while at the same time ensuring 'reasonable access' to eligible participants." Wilder, 496 U. S., at 519 (quoting 42 U. S. C. § 1396a(a)(13)(A)). Petitioners claim that, given this benchmark, "reasonable and adequate" rates can be ascertained by "monetary calculations easily determined based on prevailing rates in the market." Brief for Petitioners 21. By contrast, they observe, there is "no market for 'reasonable efforts' to keep or return a child home, and such 'reasonable efforts' cannot be calculated or quantified." Ibid.
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