Essay On The Power Of The Purse

3654 Words15 Pages
Explain Congress’ ‘power of the purse’. (10 marks) The Power of the Purse is the power granted to Congress to direct the flow of funds requested from Executive officials due to their right to do so granted from the Constitution. This power is granted under Article I Section 9 of the constitution and was granted to avoid ‘executive tyranny’ that was widely seen during the reign of the British. Following the 1930’s and the Roosevelt New Deal, what was intended to be the most prominent branch of government took to the second rudder to be replaced by an executive growing in power and importance. Thus it became ever more essential for Congress to exercise its power of the purse as new programmes were set up for the next 50 years. Therefore when the executive began to grow in size, something that is yet to halt, and began increasing the role of Federal agencies such as the Social Security Administration set up from the Social Security Act 1935 and relied on a temporary budget from the Federal Emergency relief Administration. The Social Security Administration is currently the largest social welfare program in the United States,…show more content…
One of the earliest examples in the US was the Bonus Bill of 1818, which was introduced by Democrat John C. Calhoun to construct highways linking the eastern and southern United States to its western frontier using the earnings bonus from the second bank of the United States. Calhoun argued for it using general welfare and post roads clauses from the United States Constitution. Although President James Madison approved of the economic development the bill aimed to achieve he vetoed the bill as Unconstitutional. Thus it could be argued that it had not been that significant in the

More about Essay On The Power Of The Purse

Open Document