Chapter 4: Pork Barrel Spending

Key Concepts

• Pork Barrel Spending

  • Legislation that directs specific funds to projects within districts or states.

• Logrolling

  • Trading of votes on legislation by members of Congress to get earmarks passed into legislation.

• Oversight

  • Efforts by Congress to ensure that executive branch agencies, bureaus, and cabinet departments are acting legally and in accordance with congressional goals.

Electoral Processes

• Constituencies

  • A body of voters in a given area who elect a representative or senator.

• Apportionment

  • The process of determining the number of representatives for each state using census data.

• Redistricting

  • States’ redrawing of boundaries of electoral districts following each census.

• Gerrymandering

  • The intentional use of redistricting to benefit a specific interest or group of voters.

  • Partisan Gerrymandering

    • Drawing of district boundaries into strange shapes to benefit a political party.

  • Majority-Minority Districts

    • A district in which voters of a minority ethnicity constitute an electoral majority within that electoral district.

  • Malapportionment

    • The uneven distribution of the population between legislative districts.

Political Dynamics

• Incumbency

  • A political official who is currently in office.

  • Incumbency Advantage

    • Institutional advantages held by those already in office who are trying to fend off challengers in an election.

• Leadership Roles

  • Speaker of the House

    • The leader of the House of Representatives, chosen by an election of its members.

  • House Majority Leader

    • The person who is second in command of the House of Representatives.

  • Whip

    • A member of Congress, chosen by party members, responsible for ensuring party unity and discipline.

  • Minority Leader

    • The head of the party with the second-highest number of seats in Congress, chosen by party members.

  • Senate Majority Leader

    • The person who has the most power in the Senate, head of the party with the most seats.

  • Committee Chairs

    • Leaders of congressional committees who have authority over the committee’s agenda.

Legislative Procedures

• Discharge Petition

  • A motion filed by a member of Congress to move a bill out of committee and onto the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote.

• House Rules Committee

  • A powerful committee that determines when a bill will be subject to debate and vote on the House floor, how long debate lasts, and whether amendments will be allowed on the floor.

• Committee of the Whole

  • Consists of all members of the House, meets in the House chamber but governed by different rules, making it easier to consider complex legislation.

• Hold

  • A delay on legislation by a senator who objects to a bill.

• Unanimous Consent Agreements

  • An agreement in the Senate that sets the terms for consideration of a bill.

Legislative Tactics

• Filibuster

  • A tactic through which an individual senator may use the right of unlimited debate to delay a motion or postpone action on a piece of legislation.

• Cloture

  • A procedure through which senators can end debate on a bill and proceed to action, provided ⅗ of senators agree to it.

• Veto

  • Formal rejection by the president of a bill that