What Are Pork Barrel Politics?

Pork barrel politics is the practice of an elected official leveraging their vote to gain valuable concessions in exchange for political support. This might include securing valuable government contracts or infrastructure projects for their constituents. It's not necessarily illegal but pork barrel spending has been criticized for wasting public resources and it may be considered unethical.

Understanding Pork Barrel Politics

Pork barrel politics have existed in the United States legislative and executive br♏anches since the 1800s. The term is generally used in a derogatory manne⛄r. It refers to the practice of politicians trading favors with constituents or special interest groups in exchange for political support.

Support can come in the form of votes or campaign contributions. Pork barrel politics, also known as patronage, primarily or exclusively benefits just one group of people although it's almost always funded by the larger community.

The practice of pork barrel politics relates to crony 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:capitalism. The relationships between businessmen and the government are what determines success, not the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:free market.

Controversy Surrounding Pork Barrel Politics

Examples of wasteful government spending are found each year in the budgets proposed by Congress. Pork barrel projects and the amount of money distributed this way have totaled 132,434 earmarks costing $460.3 billion since 1991 as estimated by the think tank Citizens Against Government Waste which tracks the spending annually.

It got to the point where people started taking notice, leading Congress to take action. Congress placed a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:moratorium on the practice of earmarking in 2010, putting money aside for a certain purpose. It put legislative add-ons on 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:appropriations bills to funnel money to special projects in a lawmaker's state.

Earmarks were a common practice used by legislators when attempting to pass broad bills. Congress began slowly lifting the ban on earmarks in April of 2021, however, initiated by both House Republicans and Senate Democrats.

Examples of Pork Barrel Politics

Pork barrel spending and the intersection of money and politics extend back more than a century in U.S. politics. Abraham Lincoln traded Civil War contracts to northern businessmen in exchange for patronage jobs and campaign support.

The early 20th-century New York government was dominated by Tammany Hall, a political organization that frequently bartered government contracts for political power. 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结🌜果体彩网:Outrageous examples of political earmarks caution again🦹st pork barrel poliဣtics, including these events:

Alaska's Bridge to Nowhere

The American public turned against 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:earmarking money through pork barrel politics toward the end of 2005. This was in response to a large federal highway transportation bill that included concessions for the state of Alaska. Congress initially approved more than $223 million for the infamous "bridge to nowhere."

The proposal was for the construction of a bridge that would connect the town of Ketchikan, Alaska, to the airport on Gravina Island. The former had a population of less than 9,000. The latter had only 50 residents.

The project was to be funded by federal taxpayers with only a few Alaskans reaping the benefit. The funds were rerouted and the project was scrapped after a public outcry.

Boston's Big Dig

The Big Dig project in Boston is another example. It involved a 7.8-mile section of highway that was relocated underground in one of the most expensive highway projects in the country. It was also one of the most complicated due to of delays, deaths, and flaws.

澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Federal funds were directed to the local project by then-Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill. It was initiated in 1982 and Congress originally approved the project in 1991. It was to cost $2.5 billion and was to be completed in 1998. The Big Dig wasn't completed until 2007, however. The entire project cost nearly $15 billion, a cost significantly higher than the original budget.

Other Notable Examples

The city of Bozeman, Montana awarded Montana State University more than $740,000 in 2011. The funding was intended to research the use of sheep grazing as a means of weed control. It came in the form of a three-year grant announced by U.S. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan.

The Department of Defense (DoD) Appropriations Act historically contains the most pork. More than $120 million was allocated for tank upgrades that the U.S. Army didn't even want in the 2014 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:fiscal year budget. The award was made because the supplier of the tanks had 𓆏op꧑erations across several congressional districts.

The Bottom Line

"Pork barrel politics" is a derogatory term for the practice of trading political influence for valuable government concessions. The term is decidedly negative but there's no clear definition for what qualifies as a "pork barrel" project. A project that looks like "pork barrel spending" to one group may be viewed as an essential community investment by local politicians.