Inner Workings of Congress & The Power to Tax and Spend

I watched, with baited breath, the inner workings of the Senate and the House on CPSAN, this week, after Obama and Clinton pushed the tax cut deal which also extended unemployment compensation paid for by the federal government by 53-weeks.  And, I breathed a sigh of relief. 

But, observing the inner workings of Congress lead me to wonder which of the enumerated powers Congress used to extend unemployment benefits.  Ah, you will say, "You should know that!"  And, you would be correct.

Under Art. I, section 8, clause 1:

"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, [Power to Tax & Spend] to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States [General Welfare Clause]; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States," after which enumerated powers follow.

But unemployment compensation, challenged in the U.S.Supreme Court, is part of the Social Security Act, and decided by Justice Cardozo in 1937

"who wrote the opinions in Helvering vs. Davis and Steward Machine...he made clear the Court's view on the scope of the government's spending authority...Arguing that the unemployment compensation program provided for the general welfare, Cardozo observed: ". . .there is need to remind ourselves of facts as to the problem of unemployment that are now matters of common knowledge. . .the roll of the unemployed, itself formidable enough, was only a partial roll of the destitute or needy. The fact developed quickly that the states were unable to give the requisite relief. The problem had become national in area and dimensions. There was need of help from the nation if the people were not to starve. It is too late today for the argument to be heard with tolerance that in a crisis so extreme the use of the moneys of the nation to relieve the unemployed and their dependents is a use for any purpose [other] than the promotion of the general welfare."


And finally, he extended the reasoning to the old-age insurance program: "The purge of nation-wide calamity that began in 1929 has taught us many lessons. . . Spreading from state to state, unemployment is an ill not particular but general, which may be checked, if Congress so determines, by the resources of the nation. . . But the ill is all one or at least not greatly different whether men are thrown out of work because there is no longer work to do or because the disabilities of age make them incapable of doing it. Rescue becomes necessary irrespective of the cause. The hope behind this statute is to save men and women from the rigors of the poor house as well as from the haunting fear that such a lot awaits them when journey's end is near."

These excerpts are quoted from Social Security online - see link below.

http://www.ssa.gov/history/court.html

Eloquent words from a brilliant Justice, words that are so fitting today.

I am elated that Congress did the right thing this week for the poor and middle class.  Tax extensions to the wealthy was a hard pill to swallow, but compromise was necessary to save 2 Million unemployed from the poor house, and another many millions from the same fate in the first quarter of 2011.  It's time for Congress to end the bickering and to work together, like adults, like business people for the good of the American people.  I am glad that they matured to this position.