The power of the purse is supposed to be one of the most important powers in the separation of powers thing. Another abdication is: letting the executive and CIA declare and fund their / it's own wars. (see Stimson report on UAV, for even more why we don't mention his name.) "How many shooting wars are we in?" CEO of CIA P anetta was asked on 60 Minutes. He laughed, and said "that's a good question.". I took it that there were more than the 7 we knew about. The Constitution lost a lot of its meaning in fall 2001, and even more was shredded in March 2003.
<"Who won the Iraq war?" "Iran."