•How does Congress use its power to borrow money?
•How important is Congress’s commerce power?
•Why did the Framers give Congress the power to issue currency?
•How does the bankruptcy power work?
National Debt Clock:www.usdebtclock.org/#
The Power To Tax
The Constitution gives Congress the power:
“To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States.…”
—Article I, Section 8, Clause 1
•The Constitution gives Congress the power to tax, this was not included in the Articles of Confederation
•Tax- a charge levied by the government on persons or property to raise money to meet public needs
•Limitations of Taxing Power
–Only for public purposes, not for private benefit
–May not tax exports
–Direct Taxes, paid directly to the government by whom they are imposed, must be apportioned among the States according to their populations
–All indirect taxes must be levied at the same rate in every part of the country
Borrowing Power
•The Constitution gives Congress the power to borrow on the credit of the United States, there are no limits to the amount and no restriction on the purpose
•Balanced Budget Act of 1997, Congress and President Clinton, vowed to eliminate deficit financing by 2002
–Did so by 1998, continued in ’99,’00,’01
•Three Factors eliminated this progress
–Sharp downturn in the nation’s economy
–Major tax cut by President Bush and enacted in Congress in ’01,’02,’03
–The onset of war in Afghanistan and Iraq
Commerce Power
•Congress has the power to regulate interstate and foreign trade
•Commerce Clause- gives Congress the power to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes
•Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824
–Gibbons claimed the New York grant conflicted with the power of congress to regulate commerce, the Court agreed
•Limits of the Commerce power
–Cannot tax exports
–Cannot favor the ports of one State of those of any other in the regulation of trade
–Cannot require that “Vessels bout to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another
–Could not interfere with the slave trade (until 1808)
Currency Power
•Constitution gives Congress the power to coin money and regulate the values thereof
•Also gives Congress the power to establish uniform laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States
a. successor
b. commerce power
c. deficit financing
d. liberal constructionist
e. Necessary and Proper Clause
f. strict constructionist
1. The ____ authorizes Congress to regulate all commercial interactions between the States.
2. The Federal Government has often relied on ____ to pay for wars or social programs.
The Commerce Clause entitles Congress to
a. tax Minnesota's wheat exports to Russia.
b. regulate airline routes in New England.
c. require Texas oil tankers to dock and pay duties in Louisiana.
d. give San Francisco the exclusive right to receive cargo ships from Japan.
Answers: B / C / B