Earn to Learn Act

The proposed matched savings program for low-income students falls within the enumerated powers of Congress under Article I, Section 8, Clause 1, which grants Congress the power to 'provide for the general Welfare of the United States.' This clause, as interpreted in Federalist No. 30, authorizes expenditures for the common benefit, including education and economic opportunity. Additionally, Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 (the Necessary and Proper Clause) empowers Congress to make laws that are necessary and proper for executing its spending power. The program is a legitimate exercise of fede…

This bill proposes a federal matched savings program for low-income students, which exceeds the limited and enumerated powers granted to Congress by the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment reserves to the states or the people all powers not delegated to the United States. Education and savings programs are not among the powers delegated to Congress in Article I, Section 8, nor are they necessary and proper for executing any enumerated power. Such a program would create a new federal entanglement in domestic affairs, contrary to the principle that the federal government should be confined to its …

This bill proposes a federal matched savings program for low-income students, which falls outside the enumerated powers granted to Congress by the Constitution. The Constitution does not authorize Congress to establish savings programs for individuals, as such a power is not listed in Article I, Section 8, nor is it necessary and proper for executing any enumerated power. The general welfare clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 1) is limited to taxing and spending for the common defense and general welfare, but this does not extend to creating new programs that regulate private savings or prov…

This bill proposes a matched savings program for low-income students, which falls under Congress's power to provide for the general welfare and to regulate commerce among the several states, as education and economic opportunity are intimately connected to interstate commerce. However, the Constitution does not grant Congress an unlimited power to spend for any purpose; the spending must be in pursuit of the general welfare, as interpreted in McCulloch v. Maryland, where it was held that Congress may employ means not expressly prohibited by the Constitution to carry into execution its enumerat…