Issue #1: War Dollars

Summary: The Constitution states that the president of the United States is the commander in chief of the armed forces, so he or she is able to choose what we spend our money on- whether to fight or not. But congress has the "power of the purse", which is a power that gives Congress the authority to approve the federal spending needed for the war. Congress has denied president's requests for funding fighting before, such as Reagan's request to fund the fighting in Nicaragua. There is a debate as to whether Congress should be able to use this power or not. People who are not happy with the war in Iraq want Congress to be able to use this power to stop the funding of the war. It has cost billions of dollars to taxpayers and some believe that Congress is going about it the right way by using their "power of the purse". Some are opposed to Congress's interference, however. They elected this president and they want him or her to decide what to do with the war situation. According to them, the president is better equipped than Congress to decide what will be best for the war effort, and best for a victory.

Opinion: I believe that Congress should be able to "interfere", as some call it, in the president's decisions and powers for funding the war. We need a second body to go over the decisions made by the president. His or her decisions about war may cost millions of dollars, and Congress should be there to look over it and decide what is really necessary. They should be able to "override" the president if his plan will do more harm than good to the people of America and the war effort. If Congress uses their "power of the purse", then we can ensure that we are not funding useless war efforts that will get us nowhere. I think that, while the president should have some power to choose what to do in a war situation, they should not be given complete power over these decisions. We need to decide what is best for the people, not just what one person thinks is better. Many Republicans believe that the war needs to be ended and that the President should not have all the power, according to this article: http://moodle.alexandria.k12.mn.us/file.php/3/Dem_v_Rep_Addendum.htm

Issue #2: http://alyciass2.blogspot.com/2010/02/federal-budget-blog-entry-issue-2.html

Issue #3: http://kariscurrenteventsblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/social-insecurity.html