According to a Cato Institute report Congress has approved over $12 trillion monopoly bucks in so called "Emergency " spending in the past 3 decades.
Curbing Federal Emergency Spending | Cato InstituteQuote:
Congress has complete discretion in designating spending for emergencies because what qualifies as an emergency is subject to interpretation,
From the lawmakers trying to make a pork sausage point of view ;it gives them the power to go beyond discretionary spending limits . They turned a break the glass one time exception into a standard practice.
Emergency! Everybody to Get From Street! - YouTube