Who holds the purse strings?

A reminder from Ed Week as to who ultimately holds the power of the purse:

No matter what happens, Duncan may run into some trouble getting more money for competitive grant programs if folks in Congress don't like the way he's giving it out, Joel Packer, the executive director of the Committee for Education Funding, and a former lobbyist for NEA, told me.

"At some point this year, it's going to become clear which states and districts are the winners—and which are the losers," Packer said. And some lawmakers may reconsider whether they want to give a lot of discretionary dollars to Duncan, he added. They might say "hey wait, are we giving too much power to the Secretary of Education?"