I think you guys are over-arguing this. Governmental logistics aside, imagine the US sent a billion dollars in aid to a nation. Now imagine California also did

I think you guys are over-arguing this. Governmental logistics aside, imagine the US sent a billion dollars in aid to a nation. Now imagine California also did the same. Did the US (the federal government) send two billion? No. They are clearly two different entities in this exchange, without trying to explain the nuance. That said, the reason why they're separate is very important politically, but that can be best described with a link to simple.Wikipedia or something.