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Pork barrel, or simply pork, is a metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to direct expenditures to a representative's district. The usage originated in American English , and it indicates a negotiated way of political particularism .
In other words, Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution charges the United States Congress with the legislative duty of controlling government spending separate from the executive branch of government – a significant check and balance in the American constitutional system. [3]
This type of spending is derided by critics as pork barrel spending, while those who engage in it generally defend it as necessary and appropriate expenditure of government funds. The members of the Appropriations committee can do this better than most, and better direct funding towards another member's district, increasing the stature of ...
President Obama wants the ability to trim congressional pork barrel spending as part of new legislation he introduced Monday. The so-called "Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act of 2010" would allow ...
It's not much of a consolation, but taxpayers writing the IRS checks this year can take a bit of comfort in the fact that the federal government is spending fewer of those hard-earned dollars on ...
Earmarks have often been treated as being synonymous with "pork barrel" legislation. [28] Despite considerable overlap, [29] the two are not the same: what constitutes an earmark is an objective determination, while what is "pork-barrel" spending is subjective. [30] One legislator's "pork" is another's vital project. [31] [32]
Those pork projects will cost taxpayers about $1.1 billion if the bill passes in its current form, the Washington Examiner reported Tuesday. And that only scratches the surface.
The law garnered a large amount of bipartisan support, though support was not unanimous, particularly among those who believed it to be laden with too much pork barrel spending. Early versions of the bill budgeted over $300 billion, but President Bush promised to veto any surface transportation bill costing more than $256 billion.