Spending Clause   Article I, Section 8, Clause 1  Although the
Spending Clause is the source of congressional authority to levy
taxes, it permits the levying of taxes for two purposes only: to
pay the debts of the United States, and to provide for the
common defense and general welfare of the United States. Taken
together, these purposes have traditionally been held to imply
and constitute the "Spending Power."  To many today, those two
purposes are so broad as to amount to no limitation at all. The
contemporary view is that Congress's power to provide for the
"general Welfare" is a power to spend for virtually anything
that Congress itself views as helpful. To be sure, some of the
Founders, most notably Alexander Hamilton, supported an
expansive spending power during the Constitutional Convention;
but such proposals, including an explicit attempt to authorize
spending by the federal government for internal improvements,
were rejected by the Convention. Hamilton continued to press his
case by arguing during G