Pork Barrell Spending

RECENT EXAMPLES BY OUR CONGRESS

 

The term "pork barrel" stems back to the early 1800s when the popular meat was packed that way, and hungry farm hands reached in for slabs of salt pork. In 1879, it was adopted as political slang to mean goodies for the local district paid for by the taxpayers at large.

Here are some recent examples of pork barrel spending by the Congress of the United States. These examples will be divided into 3 groups:
The Absurd
Federal Spending For Private Concerns
Pork For Congress Itself

 

These figures have been extracted from the book: "THE GOVERNMENT RACKET: Washington Waste From A to Z", by Martin L. Gross, July 1992, and arranged into categories by Chris Albritton.

 

WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT PORK BARREL SPENDING ?
  1. Send this page to as many people as possible.
  2. Distribute this on paper where you work, and pass it out to friends and relatives.
  3. Write some letters:

    Complain to your U.S. Senators and Representatives that there is too much pork in Congressional appropriations bills.

    Urge your U.S. Senators and Representatives to pass the Line Item Veto so that the President can cross out the pork in an otherwise good appropriation bill. Forty three states give their governors the Line Item Veto. Why shouldn't our President have it also?

    Insist on a Congressional rule that no member of a committee can put pork into a bill that benefits his constituency.

    Send electronic mail directly to the President and Vice-President

    PRESIDENT@WHITEHOUSE.GOV

    VICE.PRESIDENT@WHITEHOUSE.GOV

Send me mail.