Ms. Valentine's Notes

Unit 2

Article I  section 8

•This section contains the enumerated or expressed powers of Congress.

Clause 1 – the power of the purse

•Congress has the power to lay and collect taxes to pay debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare, all taxes shall be uniform throughout the US.

–The power to start all revenue measures begins in the House.  Most of this work is done in the House Ways and Means Committee.  They decide whether or not to go along with the president’s budget and decide tax deductions and benefits.

–The Senate may propose amendments.  Most of the Senate’s tax work is done in the Senate Finance Committee.

Paying debts and providing for defense and welfare is a two step process.

•Step one is an authorization bill in which a federal program is set up and the amount of money needed or allowed for that program is specified.

•Step two is an appropriations bill which authorizes spending of the money.

Clause 2

u Congress has the power to borrow money on the credit of the US.

u The most common method for borrowing money is authorizing the sale of government securities – bonds or notes.  When people buy savings bonds, Treasury bills, or Treasury notes, they are lending the government money.

u This borrowed money is used to pay operating expenses which contribute to the national debt.

Clause 3 – the commerce clause

lThis gives Congress the power to regulate foreign and interstate trade.

l The Supreme Court has expanded Congressional power under this clause by ruling the meaning of commerce far exceeds the mere buying and selling of goods and services.

Activities and policies under the commerce clause include:

l Broadcasting, banking and finance, air and water pollution, minimum wage, regulating working conditions, the Civil Right Act of 1964 which prohibited job discrimination, and federal laws aimed at racketeering and arson.

Clause 4

•Congress decides what is necessary to become a US citizen.  (discussed in Ch. 14)

•Congress establishes bankruptcy laws that are uniform throughout the US.  Almost all bankruptcy cases are heard in federal courts.

Clause 5

•Congress has the power to coin and print money, regulate it’s value and the value of foreign coin, and the power to fix the standards of weights and measures.

–All currency the federal government issues is legal tender, meaning that it must be accepted as payment.

Clause 6

•Congress has the power to set the punishment for counterfeiting.

–This includes postage stamps, paper money, coin, government securities, and even works of art.

Clause 7

n Gives Congress the power to establish Post Offices and to set up national roads.

Clause 8

•Congress has to power to establish and maintain copyright and patent laws.

Clause 9

•Congress has the power to set up all federal courts below the supreme court.

•This includes Federal District Courts and Federal Courts of Appeal.

Clause 10

•Congress has the power to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the laws of nations.

–Congress has the power to protect American ships on the high seas.

Clause 11

•Congress has the power to declare war, authorize private citizens to arm a ship for the purpose of capturing the enemy ships and their cargo (known as letters of marque), and make rules concerning captures on land and water. (i.e. the Geneva Convention)

Clause 12

•Congress has the power to raise and support armies, but they cannot appropriate money for that purpose for longer than 2 years at a time.

Clause 13

•Congress has the power to provide and maintain a Navy

Clause 14

•Congress has the power to make the rules for government and regulation of the armed forces.

Clause 15

•Congress has the power to call up the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrection and repel invasion.

•The “militia” is now called the National Guard.

Clause 16

§Congress has the power to organize, arm, and discipline the National Guard, and the provide for the governing of the National Guard when employed in the service of the United States, and the power to appoint the officers and train the National Guard is reserved to the states according to Congressional guidelines.

Clause 17

•Congress has the power to set up the US Capitol in a district not to exceed 10 square miles in territory which has been willingly given up by the particular states and to make laws for such district.  It also gives Congress the power to set up and maintain, with the consent of State Legislatures, any necessary federal government building and installation.

Clause 18 – the Elastic Clause

§Congress has the power to make any laws that are “necessary and proper” for carrying out any and all powers given by the Constitution to the Government of the United States, any Department or Officer thereof.