Pork Barreling Essay

The federal budget is known as the infamous monetary tank from which money is distributed to various programs. Why does the federal budget plan cause such uproar of approval or disapproval when it is proposed by the President every February? The money utilized every fiscal year, which runs from October 1st of each year until the end of September of the following year, belongs to the people. The money is raised through income taxes, excise taxes (taxes on goods) and social insurance payroll taxes. Presently, the public is worried about how they will receive a fair share of money appropriations in such a slow economy. The federal deficit has returned, which means that the government’s spending

In “Congressional Government”, Woodrow Wilson tries to explain the system of Congress and in it he thoroughly discusses the predominance of Congressional Committees in the legislative body. He argues that our legislature is more analogous to a conglomerate, not a homogenous body and that “we are ruled by a score and a half of ‘little legislatures’”(Wilson p. 323). There is little unity in the House and party organization is not strong according to Wilson. The many distinct, disconnected committees has leads Congress to have weak leadership and therefore decreases decision making. Also Wilson shows how multiple committee jurisdictions creates a system where there is no clear voice on the issue and since committees differ in political ideology broad questions of policy suffer. Lawrence C. Dodd also discusses the committee system in “Congress and the Quest for Power”. In it, he argues that the solution to congressmen’s need for power is a decentralized congress with a committee system that allows members to gain considerable power in their small committees. “Each member wants to exercise power, to make the key policy decisions. … Given this widespread power motive, an obvious way to resolve the conflict is to disperse power”(Dodd p. 335). Dodd argues that the solution to member Congress constantly seeking power is the current

Since Congressional committees are ultimate decision makers, perceive that their staff individuals can have the critical impact over the course and content of legislation. Constituents are asked to keep up continuous contacts with these people, particularly subcommittee staff and the lawmakers' about particular authoritative helpers. These congressional meetings are very powerful because they also carry out legislations processes such as authorizing legislation, appropriation of bills, and entitlement legislation. Authorizing legislation is a bill that makes another government program, expands the life of a current program, or nullifications existing law. Approving bills generally set a point of confinement on the measure of assets that can

The structure of our government is complex. With local, state, and federal levels of government, it can be confusing to understand how the government works. Luckily, Morris Fiorina wrote a document about the structure of the government called The Rise of the Washington Establishment. The Washington establishment simply refers to big government workers such as, included but not limited to, house representatives, senators, congressmen, and party leaders. These legislators and bureaucrats are the ones who run the government and establish laws. In his document, Fiorina argued that these people are in office only for personal gains. He strongly focused on congress, in which he believes they act in favor of their reelection. Power, money, and insurance benefits are the main influences that motivate congressmen to hold their position. Governmental representatives are supposed to reflect the values of the people, but they ultimately act in a selfish manor. The Rise of the Washington Establishment analyzes how congressmen act for their own self-interest.

One of the advantages that incumbents enjoy in congressional elections is due to “Pork barrel politics” this term is used when congressmen and senators focus government funds into their home

32. Legislators use pork barrel politics and earmarks to bring money and jobs back to their home districts to show their constituents that they are working toward their best interests in Congress.

The central arguments for bringing earmarks back into Congress revolve Congress’ constitutionally given right to control the “power of the purse,” and the idea that the narrow interests of individual districts are similar to the national interests. Supporters of earmarks argue that since the Constitution gives Congress the “power of the purse” in Article 1 Section 9, any restriction on that power is unconstitutional. Earmarks, provisions in laws that direct federal spending, are an embodiment of that constitutionally given power; and therefore, should not be restricted. Frisch and Kelly also argue that representatives strive to serve the narrow interests of their individual districts and that those interests ultimately serve the entire country. Since the members of Congress are

This has resulted in a congress that is disdained and distrusted, however, also liked because the congressmen appeal to their constituency polarized beliefs. Furthermore, gerrymandering has resulted in less competition for many of the congressmen, which in turn results in more polarized and ideological members. Gerrymandering adds to the extent to which congress has become a pit of festering ideologues that are no longer willing to compromise or work together for the public good, but rather only work to advance the beliefs of their constituencies which are skewed because of the skewed election process. This can be culminated in Ted Cruz, who has become an ideologue that focuses only on himself and his constituency and because of the less competitive districts he is able to keep his unwillingness to cooperate. This points to a culture that values narcissism and materialism. The United States culture has become narcissistic, no one believes that they are wrong, they refuse to question their

This inclination towards pleasing voters leads to a division in congress. The congressmen who wish to be reelected by their people will support arguments that benefit these people. They simply

Committees and Campaign Promises The Texas House of Representatives serves a key role throughout the law-making process, but who exactly decides what bills pass or do not pass? Well, that is where things start to get complicated as there are various departments that must approve each bill before it is passed. Any congress member can propose a bill, but then it must be assigned to the proper committee for further evaluation. According to Ross Ramsey with the Texas Tribune, only about 23 percent of Texas bills get passed as 1,726 out of 7,419 bills were passed in 2009. That means that as a legislator, one must choose to serve the committees that best suits their

Constitution to the best of their abilities, it appears that the ideological landscape of constant threats, negotiation, and all that involves the human aspect of political science undermines their pre-existing ethical outlooks. We can then conclude that within this environment of interpersonal motives, representatives develop a “home-style blueprint” whereby they take the appropriate stances on social and media promoted issues that align with their district’s popular appropriations. (Fenno, 1964) These crowd pleasing stances reassure a district’s populace that the elected representative is holding their interests to the highest regard. When in reality that representative is using a preconceived blueprint to maintain incumbency, while deterring from its districts interest on a bevy of less publicized political issues.

Golden discusses many different problems of the legislative branch. One of the first things he talks about is the four defects, and the three effects of the defects. He refers to this as the 4-3. The first defect he talks about is the money flood. This is arguably one of the biggest defects of the legislature. While the three other defects only affect the House of Representatives or the Senate, the money flood affects all 535 members (Golden 2015). Most of the money raised by these members is paid by special interests groups, and all the money they receive is legal. In 2012 the money the House and Senate raised was more than $1.8 billion, and special interest groups accounted for $400 million of that (Golden 2015). This is scary because it means that politicians have to spend more of their time negotiating with small amounts of people who are able to give large sums of money, rather than most of the American public who can only afford to donate small amounts of money. This is alarming because it implicates them

In the past century, people continued to express an increasingly discontent view of Congress especially true when one looks back before the Clinton Impeachment debacle As the size of the nation and the number of congressman have grown, the congress has come under attack by both public influences and congressman themselves. Yet looking at one congressman's relationship with his or her constituents, it would be hard to believe that this is the branch of government that has come under suspect. In "If Ralph Nader says congress is 'The broken branch,' how come we love our congressman so much?" author Richard F. Fenno, Jr., provides insight into this view and why, through congress coming under fire, constituents still feel positively about

The Congress of the 1950s, known as the “textbook Congress”, is quite different than the Congress of the today. Our Author notes six legislative folkways that were noted by political scientist

Cutting their funding will lead to more health issues for people who used to go to them, thereby increasing costs on the public services providing by the government. It will end up costing more than actually not cutting their funds.