pork barrel
orig. and chiefly U.S. [pork1 3.]
1. A barrel in which pork is kept. Also fig., a supply of money; the source of one's livelihood.
| 1801 Farmer's Almanack 1802 (Boston) sig. C2 Better spare at the brim, than at the bottom, is an old proverb, and should teach us to mind our pork and cider barrels. 1842 Joliet (Illinois) Courier 2 Feb. 3/1 Farmers can be accommodated with a very good Pork Barrel in exchange for Oats Butter or Wheat. 1861 Harper's Mag. Oct. 643/1, I came very near tumbling over a pork-barrel, and made a remark concerning obstructions in the street which was more forcible than chaste. 1863 Frank Leslie's Illustr. Newspaper 24 Jan. 277/3 We find that those who work honestly, and only seek a man's fair average of life, or a woman's, get that average... And thus we find that when an extraordinary contingency arises in life..we have only to go to our pork-barrel and the fish rises to our hook or spear. 1909 Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 178/2 We had bought ten empty pork-barrels. 1946 S. Newton Paul Bunyan xxvii. 158 It was as big around as a pork barrel. 1978 M. Puzo Fools Die xi. 106 The Army Reserve of the United States was a great pork barrel. By just coming to a meeting for two hours a week you got a full day's pay. |
2. fig. The state's financial resources regarded as a source of distribution to meet regional expenditure; the provision of funds (in U.S., Federal funds) for a particular area achieved through political representation or influence. Freq. attrib. or as adj.
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 1 June 2/1 The Democratic Party..has periodically inveighed against the extravagance of the administration, but its representatives in the Legislature have exercised no critical surveillance over the appropriations. They have preferred to take for their own constituencies whatever could be got out of the Congressional ‘pork barrel’. 1913 R. M. La Follette Autobiogr. 60 It was on the so-called ‘pork-barrel’ bill for river and harbor appropriations. 1916 N.Y. Even. Post 12 May 8/2 The River and Harbor bill is the pork barrel par excellence, and the rivers and harbors are manipulated by Federal machinery and not by State machinery. 1926 R. Luce Congress 82 Undoubtedly there was once a ‘pork-barrel’, a metaphorical barrel from which legislators pulled out ‘pork’ to satisfy the ravenous appetites of greedy constituents. 1950 Reader's Digest Jan. 96/2 The Army Civil Functions appropriation bill—once known as the Rivers and Harbors bill and still called the ‘pork barrel’ bill—this year provided for 275 projects. 1950 Sun (Baltimore) 24 Aug. 4/3 The section of the bill is sometimes called the ‘pork-barrel’, and as it contains funds for projects in virtually every state, it is one that is the hardest to cut item by item. 1953 Manch. Guardian Weekly 11 June 10/4 We are shown..the way in which members of Congress..deal with the problem of public works (coarsely called the pork barrel). 1960 Economist 15 Oct. 266/2 It [sc. the Macmillan Government] has treated some nationalised industries almost as if they were its positive enemies, while a quite considerable pork-barrel has been opened up for a growing number of private firms. 1961 D. L. Munby God & Rich Society vi. 122 ‘Pork-barrel’ politics, by which governments step in to help particular economic groups in the community. 1973 Sat. Rev. Sci. (U.S.) Mar. 29/3 Present fire allocations..have reached pork-barrel dimensions. 1976 H. Wilson Governance of Britain x. 172 In Westminster, the Government has complete control over expenditure... Thus, in Britain, ‘pork-barrel’ expenditure is ruled out. |
Hence pork-barrelling vbl. n., the process of providing regional funds by these means.
| 1967 Economist 14 Oct. 133/3 The one piece of regional pork-barrelling at last week's Labour party conference was the Prime Minister's promise that two aluminium smelters, using subsidised electricity, would be built, probably in development areas. 1974 Camden (S. Carolina) Chron. 22 Apr. 2/1 The commission needs stronger authority than it has in that field if legislative pork-barreling on higher education is to be kept to a minimum. 1976 Guardian Weekly 12 Sept. 7/5 Pork barrelling—the way Congressmen with political influence can obtain Federal funds for local projects. 1977 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 26 May 36/3 Such reallocation would sorely affect agricultural usage of the land and stimulate the construction of various water aqueducts, dams, and other projects currently denounced as mere congressional pork-barreling. |