WHY do bills have to include pork..........?

Question

just so the tax dollars we pay will be spent on America?

Well shouldn't the spending on other countries be what is earmarked, instead of everything that is spent on America?

Wow see that? (points up) that is my point flying over your heads.

Answer 1

It is the byproduct of electing Representatives and Senators to the Congress. If they don't provide for federa spending for their states and districts, they don't get money to campaign for reelection.

On the one hand, pork provides jobs for our communities by attracting businesses to the districts to invest and build new plants and stores. On the other hand, pork makes excess spending and increases the budget deficit by finding more ways to spend than what we are receiving in tax revenues.

Answer 2

Pork is the way members of congress buy votes for the bills they want passed. If you vote for my war spending bill I'll tack on $20 million for avacado farmers in your district. By directing federal money back to their home district they look good to their constituents and theyget re-elected. So when a bill needs more votes it starts getting packed with pork to buy those votes. I think Congress should pass a law requiring all bills be on a single issue. A war spending bill cannot have agricultural earmarks. All earmarks must be directly related to the subject of the bill. That would make a lot of this pork go away. Another thing they could do is line item voting. The line item veto was thrown out by the supreme court but if congress held a vote on each provision of a bill separately, then the needless spending would get voted down without having to rewrite the whole bill. Imagine how much progress we would have made on immigration reform if members could just vote against the parts of the bill they didn't like and pass the parts they did like. I think you would find that there is a lot of common ground and the few sticking points would no longer stop progress from being made.

Answer 3

We'd like this to stop. They are earmarks and other self-promoting pieces of legislation that get added to a bill that some greedy $#$%% knows will get passed. So they piggy back on it.

Answer 4

So they can hide tax dollars being used. Take for instance the last war spending bill was full of pork like millions of dollars for peanut storage. I never think about storing peanuts at the same time I think about the war.

Answer 5

But but.. if you vote against the pork you hate the children and the veterans!

The American people support pork by repeating distortions like this ALL THE TIME.

Answer 6

As far as I know, pork is just proof for a state representative to give to it's constituents that he is doing stuff for them. Gains trust, re-elections, yadda yadda.

Answer 7

1.) Bribery to get votes on a specific bill
2) Spending that could not make it on it's own merits
3) Dishonest attempts to for personal gain (families benefiting from government spending)
4) Voter Apathy
5) Secure votes in their district
6) All of the above!!!!

Take your pick.

Answer 8

It keeps politicians elected in their districts and rapes the rest of the American people.

Answer 9

Because the "pork" can't make it thru on it's own.

Answer 10

Because one mans pork is another man's reelection.