Earmarks / “pork barrel politics.”

Washington Memo

Question of Timing on Bush’s Push on Earmarks

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

President Bush has never shown much distaste for Congressional pork. But he declared Monday that he had had enough.

earmark Hide phonetics
verb [T often passive]
to keep or intend something for a particular purpose:
Five billion dollars of this year's budget is already earmarked for hospital improvements.

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.


pork barrel　〔米話〕 政府事業計画［交付金］ ((特定選挙区のみに与える)).
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.”