Department of Education, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and every other individual welfare program funded via the levying and collection of federal income taxes, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, R&D grants, tax exemptions carved out for individual companies or industries, the list is nearly as long as the number of federal budget items.
As to what constitutes the enumerated powers, that is contained in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution. It is quite specific as to what the enumerated powers of the Congress are:
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;--And
To 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.
Do you see a power delegated to provide individual welfare subsidies of any stripe let alone the huge variety of stripes that currently exist? Do you see a warrant of power to guarantee loans made by banks to anyone regardless of what the purpose of the loan is? The federal government is currently guaranteeing home loans, education loans, business loans, and other varieties of loans between institutions and individuals both domestically and internationally. Where is the delegation of power to do that?
Certainly the Congress was delegated the power to hire an artist to produce a specific piece for the federal government, a portrait of the president as an example. But to then turn around and say that allows it to subsidize an individual artist to pursue their art however they wish is to invent a new power for itself. Do you see that difference? One is proper under the Constitution, one is not. For the Congress to appropriate money to develop a new battle rifle for use by the army is a proper exercise of delegated powers, but not in the manner that is currently being done. The proper way is to tell the arms manufacturers that the army is interested in a new battle rifle, if you are interested bring a prototype for examination. The improper way is to provide seed money to 30 different companies, many of which donated money to your campaign and your party, to see what they come up with.
The proper way of developing alternative energy is to issue a RFP for a solar array to run the Capital and hire one of them to build the array. The improper way is to guarantee loans to 30 different companies, the heads of which made contributions to your campaign and your party, with no product so as to help them develop their product.
The first, in both examples, is a delegated power of Congress. The other is a power Congress invented for itself. Thomas Jefferson said it best in a letter written to William Johnson in 1823:
On every question of construction, let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.
Now if you are of the opinion that the ACA, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP and every other individual welfare subsidy currently provided by the federal government conforms to the intent that was understood at the time the Constitution was adopted instead of being real world examples of trying what meaning may be squeezed from the text or invented against it I'd love to have that discussion with you.
One point before you begin. I am not necessarily opposed to providing these subsidies as many of them address real world needs. I am, however, opposed to having the federal government be the level of government from which these subsidies originate. Remember, my objection is that the majority, instead of the minority, of my tax dollars are going to Washington DC. That doesn't mean I would be opposed to paying the same, or perhaps higher, taxes at the local and State level to address these same issues, it means I am opposed to sending those tax dollars to the federal government.
