ABSTRACT
The Constitution says the power to tax and spend belongs with Congress. Thus, under the Articles, Congress had no direct power to tax; it had the power only to appropriate state-supplied funds to pay the debts of government. The Constitution corrected this shortcoming, vesting the federal tax and spending powers in Congress. The powers that the Constitution grants to Congress and the president are different from the popular meaning of the term "power". Through legislation, Congress may grant authority for other parties to carry out the powers granted to itself. Though the founding fathers deliberately placed the taxing and spending powers in Congress, disagreements over the nature of federal system of government have been a central theme in debates over budget policy. The bottom line of the South Dakota and National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) decisions is to affirm that Congress's spending power can be interpreted quite broadly, but that there are limits to what Congress can do.
