When members of Congress try to gain federal funds for projects in their district or state, they are often accused of playing “pork barrel politics.” This curious expression dates back to the days of plantation slavery before the Civil War, when field hands dipped into large barrels of salt pork for their food. Similarly, those senators and representatives who win special projects for their constituents are “bringing home the bacon.”
Legislation authorizing improvements in rivers and harbors, flood control and dams, construction of federal buildings, and highway construction traditionally caused members to scramble to get something in for their state or district. More recently, energy and defense appropriations bills have attracted pork barrel amendments. Members of Congress defend their pork barrel efforts as a way of more evenly distributing federal money throughout the nation. But critics charge that Congress often diverts funds to projects and places not out of national need but to enhance members' chances of reelection. Senator Norris Cotton (Republican–New Hampshire), who served on the Appropriations Committee, spoke for many when he called pork barrel politics “one of the worst features of the whole system of federal grants and subsidies.”
Pork barrel politics has become associated with a variety of colorful legislative terms. When members seize upon a bill that the President is likely to sign into law and then add pork barrel amendments, it is called a “Christmas tree” bill. Special projects are hung upon the bill the way ornaments adorn a Christmas tree. When Congress specifies exactly where and how federal money should be spent—for example, specifying the awarding of a grant to a certain university to conduct weapons research—it is “earmarking” the funds, just as some farm animals are marked on the ear to identify who owns them. And when members trade their votes for each other's pork barrel projects, the practice is called “logrolling.” This expression dates back to the frontier practice of neighbors working together to clear their farmland and gather logs for building their homes, barns, and fences. Whoever helped his neighbors in logrolling would receive their help in return.
Sources
- Norris Cotton, In the Senate: Amidst the Conflict and the Turmoil (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1978)
