Other books have documented pork barrel projects in different policy areas, but none has examined the process of using pork to buy votes for broad public policy. This book reveals how Congressional leaders and the President give pork barrel projects to Congressional members' districts to buy their votes for broad-based national legislation. It does so through interviews with key actors--who provide the basis for a rich narrative of the process of passing the bills as well as statistical analysis.
Diana Evans is Professor of Political Science at Trinity College in Connecticut. She has published widely on the impact of interest groups and political action committees on congressional decision making, as well as on turnout in congressional elections. Her articles have appeared in such journals as the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, and Political Research Quarterly. She is past president of the New England Political Science Association and has been chair of the Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association. She has served on the editorial boards of the American Political Science Review and Legislative Studies Quarterly.
1. Introduction; 2. Pork barrel politics and general interest legislation; 3. Who calls the shots? The allocation of pork barrel projects; 4. Highway demonstration projects and voting on the Federal Highway Program; 5. Presidential bargaining with Congress and the NAFTA bazaar; 6. Pork barreling in the Senate: do both parties do it?; 7. Conclusions.