Next Entrée for Congress: Political Pork?

Political pork, i.e. earmarking, is often associated with corruption due to its role in recent bribery scandals that involved lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Californian House Representative Randy Cunningham. There also has been much criticism that this "piggy bank" system fosters cronyism by allowing lawmakers to direct federal money to pet projects with minimal oversight.

While Democratic Congressional leaders have pledged to require disclosure of authorship and proposed banning the “airdropping” of items into a bill just before final passage, appropriators and their allies often complain that such measures single them out unfairly, and Democratic draft proposals introduced this year left loopholes for many projects. David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times and David Wren of Grand Strand, OH-based The Sun News offer the latest insights into the new cardinals (how the chairmen of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees are known on Capitol Hill).

To learn more about political pork in addition to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary's definition of "government funds, jobs, or favors distributed by politicians to gain political advantage", Ed Wimmer, a conservative Republican who appears on 'In the News' with Craig Wright on Cox Cable Channel 9, provides a hilarious introduction to this dish on his website.

Will the Democrats end the pork barrel spending that has gone out of control since the Republicans reined Congress? With the Democrats' healthy appetite, the taste of pork will most likely still linger.