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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 .
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]
pork barrel legislation or patronage: acts of government that blatantly favor powerful special interest groups. rider that attaches something new or unrelated to an existing bill. sunset clause to prevent legislation from being permanent. a trigger law that will automatically "spring" into effect once some other variable occurs.
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Some politicians take a hard-line stance against pork and have worked to eliminate pork from Congress. [citation needed] An early-21st-century example of attempted pork barrel spending was the Gravina Island Bridge, a proposed Alaska bridge which attracted so much national attention as a "bridge to nowhere" that the earmark for it was removed.
Doling out money for pet projects actually helps Congress function better.
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.
The Government should review legislation that restricts protest based on “knee-jerk public opinion”, a think tank has said. Cross-party think tank Demos said it had found “overwhelming ...