Good Day Citizens and Welcome to What Would Jefferson do?

Our weekly opportunity to discuss current American events

with President Thomas Jefferson, who is seated across for me.

Now, good day to you, Mr. President.

Good day to you, citizen.

Mr. Jefferson, I wanted to talk to you about appropriation of money within the United States.

Now, it's my understanding that it's the duty of Congress

to appropriate money for everything from maintaining armies and navies to building roads.

That's correct, isn't it?

Yes, so we're a republic, and in a republic

the people are sovereign, and they would like to keep their own freedom and their own

tax money in their pocket.

They do understand, however, that we need a social compact and so they have yielded a few of

their natural rights and some of their wealth to the state,

to the government, but they want it to be used with great care and frugality and they do not want their government to begin to aggrandize

itself to do things that they haven't intended.

So under our Constitution all fiscal matters must begin in the House of Representatives.

They can't begin in the Senate.

They can be proposed by the President of the United States.

In fact, that's one of his duties. proposed by the President of the United States.

In fact, that's one of his duties.

But money can only be appropriated by the House

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