General Welfare

General Welfare Congress is granted authority under Article I, section 8 of the Constitution to “pay the debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.” The meaning of this Taxing and Spending Clause provoked controversy as early as 1792. One interpretation is that it gives Congress broad power to legislate in the public interest. Such a view is inconsistent with the concept of a limited constitution, however. A second view, promoted by Alexander Hamilton, suggested that Congress's power to tax and spend for the general welfare was additional to its other powers. A third view, represented by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, argued that the phrase was simply a summary or general description of the specific powers and that it gave Congress no additional power.8

The Supreme Court had no opportunity to interpret this clause until 1936, in United States v. Butler. In striking down the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, Justice Owen *Roberts, writing for the majority, held with Hamilton's view, saying that the Taxing and Spending Clause was indeed a separate grant of power to Congress. Because the Court could determine for itself whether a particular tax or expenditure was in the general welfare of the country, however, Roberts read the clause as limiting Congress's reach to matters of “national, as distinguished from local welfare.” The limitation proposed by Butler remained hypothetical, however, since the Court struck down the statute in question on other grounds.

In any event, the expansion of congressional power under the Commerce Clause has rendered the question almost moot since Congress's authority, in practical terms, now reaches most of the concerns that might come under the rubric of “general welfare” (see Commerce Power).

William Lasser