Is Pork Spending a Must or a Bust?

Chapter 27:

Pork barreling has been a controversial issue for decades, which is especially evident in America today. Sean Paige, author of “Rolling Out the Pork Barrel” (an excerpt from The Enduring Debate) visibly presents his opposition to pork barrel spending. He voices that in the past, Congress has repeatedly passed bills without thinking about how it will be paid for. Last year, “$9.1 billion in additional spending was ‘forward funded’-which means that Congress will spend it now and figure out how to pay for it later” (Source 2. Page 162). Not to mention, a number of the bills Congress passes appear to be wasteful. For instance, “funding toward any stadium, community park, museum, theater, art center, and highway beautification project" (1) was supposed to be prohibited in the stimulus bill, but this requirement was not accepted in the final version. One earmark that was a result of this states $150 million will be devoted to parking improvements at the Little League facility in Cidra, Puerto Rico (1). Another example of ridiculous pork in the stimulus bill states that $6 million will be directed towards snow maintenance for Spring Mountain ski area located in Minnesota (1). With all of the debt, unemployment, and hardship that are currently around us, are improved parking lots and snow maintenance facilities really necessary? Paige would agree that these examples of pork are both improvident and outrageous.



Chapter 28

Taking a different side from Paige, Jonathan Cohn (author of “Roll Out the Barrel: The Case Against the Case Against Pork”) believes that there is more to pork spending than meets the eye. Although presidents in the past assured that they would eliminate pork from future bills, they usually didn’t hold true to that promise (2). Cohn points out that earmarks could have been what the Founding Fathers wanted for the United States government. As stated in The Enduring Debate, “favoring legislatures with small gifts for their districts in order to achieve great things for the nation is an act not of sin but of statesmanship” (Source 2. Page 173). Cohn argues that one must peel back the onion layers of the pork or look at the greater affect it will have on the country as a whole. There are a number of earmarks in the stimulus package that appear to be pork, when in fact; they ultimately benefit all of America. For example, a previous law stated that employers that worked on a yacht that was 65 feet or more were required to get insurance. An earmark was placed in the stimulus bill that went against this law, stating that insurance for these workers is no longer required. One may ask, how is this significant to the rest of the country? It is important because many yacht workers could not afford the insurance, so they were out of a job. Thus, this earmark in the stimulus package was created to correct this problem. It allows Americans to work on these ships without having to worry about paying for insurance, which ultimately, benefits our economy. More Americans with jobs mean that more money will go back into the economy because they will have money to spend (3). Another example of pork that is beneficial to America is regarding the textile industry. This earmark states that TSA (Transportation Security Administration) uniforms must be made in the United States (3). At first glance, this amendment seems outlandish because what difference would it make where the clothing is made? However, if you dig deeper into this pork, you will see that its intentions are respectable. Not only will it create more jobs in the textile industry in America, but it will also stimulate the economy, just like the other earmark stated above plans on doing. Both of these examples of pork in the stimulus bill reflect the points of Cohn, thus showing how some “porks” can be advantageous to America.

(Source 1) http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy/2009/02/19/finding-the-pork-in-the-obama-stimulus-bill.html?PageNr=2

(Source 2)
David T. Canon, John J. Coleman, Kenneth R. Mayer, ed., The Enduring Debate, 4th ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006), 161-173.

(Source 3)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29025047/




Claire FIchtel
Civics L4
Period 6