Congress and the Biden administration are on a spending frenzy. President Biden’s unprecedented attempt to forgive student loans by “executive action” could cost as much as $1 trillion. Three new laws—the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022—provide for massive spending on infrastructure. The laws devote billions of dollars to purely local projects, including half the $6.3 billion cost of adding 1½ miles to New York City’s Second Avenue subway.

Such spending once would have been considered unconstitutional. The Constitution authorizes federal spending for “common defense” and “general welfare”—first in the preamble and later in the clause setting out Congress’s power to tax. Before the New Deal, “general welfare” was limited to internal improvements, often linked to defense or territorial expansion. A later example is the interstate highway system, built during the Cold War and known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. Mile-long stretches can double as emergency landing strips for military aircraft, and many military bases are located nearby.