Federal aid to private companies is unconstitutional in the United States.

Good luck to you as well. I agree with my opponent's definitions for this debate, however I have one of my own to propose as well. Federal Aid- In the United States of America, Federal assistance, also known as federal aid, federal benefits, or federal funds, is defined as any federal program, project, service, and activity provided by the U.S. federal government that directly assists or benefits the American public. http://www.reference.com... Aid Given the recent fiscal decisions between Washington and corporate entities such as AIG, I am assuming the only type of aid implied within the resolution is fiscal aid. Thus, I will be solely referring to financial aid within this debate round. if I misconstrued the intent of this resolution that is something that will have to be cleared up in later rounds by my opponent and myself. I will go NEG--> AFF --------------------------------------------------- CONTENTION 1- article 1 section 8 of the U.S. constitution The first power enumerated within article 1 section 8 of the constitution is: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; The clause explicitly denotes that the federal government may have the power to tax within the united states to pay debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States. within this clause, the federal government is directly given the power to provide aid in several ways. Subpoint A- Tax Breaks The first of which would be tax breaks. As the federal government can tax, they can simultaneously levy taxes on certain or all private companies as they please. Given that federal aid is "...any federal program, project, service, and activity provided by the U.S. federal government that directly assists or benefits the American public." alleviating the tax burden on private companies would be entirely beneficial to these companies= federal aid. This alone is enough to negate. Subpoint B- Acting in the common defense and general welfare of the United States. furthermore, as the constitution reads within that same clause " The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes... to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States. we find yet another method in which the federal government can provide aid: when acting in the common defence and general welfare for the country. if the collapse of a multibillion dollar corporation were enough to jeopardize the welfare and security of this nation, then the USFG can act as empowered by the constitution by whatever means provided to ensure that such a collapse would not occur. the primary medium= federal financial aid. Subpoint C- necessary and Proper (elastic) The last clause within the Article 1 section 8 states "[congress can] make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof." it is the government's primary role to act on behalf of the general welfare of the people,this clause gives them the explicit power to create such laws to do so. if a scenario (like in subpoint b) were presented to the American public, the USFG would be forced to act to preserve general welfare by providing federal aid. ------------------------------------------- NOW ON TO THE AFF ------------------------------------------- My opponents first contention is negated by my first contention. I have fulfilled my burden within this debate round, to show that the power to provide federal aid by congress to private companies is enumerated within the constitution. Thus, my opponent's second contention is fundamentally flawed insofar as it is simply false that the federal government does not have such powers. additionally, when it comes to interstate policy, commerce, and affairs its the fed's job to intervene and regulate. a lot of these companies (like AIG) span across all 50 states. vote neg.