How presidential power has increased over the years even though the president's Constitutional powers have not changed?

Answer 1

Presidential powers have changed in many ways. Your actual question is wrong, the President has been granted addition constitutional powers through amendments in Article 1, Section VII, Article 2 Section II and Article II, Section 2, Clause 1.

Given the events over the past 20th century, to name a few; the Great Depression, WWI, WWII, Cold War, Vietnam War and the War on Terrorism. These events have led to the notion of "Commander in Cheif" over the legislative body due to national unity issues. The Legislative body, Congress, rarely ever intervenes in Executive orders during times of War. 90 out of 93 Senators voted to extend the War Bill in the Middle East mounting to $336 billion.

The President has also been given powers to veto legislation which was granted under Article 1, Section 7. Under this Section the President is allowed to willfully refuse the assent of a bill, preventing it from becoming law. However, this power is contested as Congress may reverse this power with a 2/3 majority vote.

War Time act has also led to many other grants of executive power. Such as Wiretapping in domestic homes in the US as well as the torture clause, all of which were passed during the Bush Administration. The use of "national security" as a defense has led to many debated issues over the usages of this unconstitutional convention.

Enough about this, I have to get back to writing my paper on the demise of Congressional importance in correlation with voter turnout... How boring.