(A) It's 3% Pork - What's Your Real Beef?
Digging in their heels to oppose the recently approved stimulus package, Republicans decried the bill as nothing but "pork." Is the charge really true? Only to a minor degree.
Pork, in its generally accepted meaning, refers to provision for federal spending that goes to a narrow constituency, or is inserted into a bill surreptitiously by a Congressman to benefit his own district or a favored local industry. It's a special favor to, or by, a few, but paid for by all of us. "Pork" really can't be used to include the broad policy choices of a party or administration; if it were, all spending would be pork. Was spending for the war in Iraq "pork?" Or the huge giveaways to drug companies contained in the Medicare prescription benefit? I don't think many of us would argue that these were pork.
So it's amusing, perhaps, to see John McCain and Eric Cantor raging against pork with all the fervor of Muslim holy men, but they're not being very honest in suggesting it's a major part of the bill. Let's not be hornswoggled by political exaggeration. There is some pork, yes, and, to use an opposition figure, a prominent Republican has identified $25 billion worth. If the most a partisan politician can count is $25 billion in $787 billion of spending, that would be about 3%. I don't know that that's such a terrible record. And, pork or not, if it's rapidly disbursed it could be very stimulative. (I find a nice vinegar-based pulled roast-pork sandwich very stimulative, myself.)
(B) Pork Greases The Wheels
Under current circumstances, very little can be done in the Senate without Republican support. Republicans have calculated that it costs them nothing to stonewall, and there's no evidence that appeals for "bipartisanship" will move them off that position. How then can the Administration hope to pass anything it proposes, without adopting the GOP program instead of the voters' program?
Everybody says they're against "pork," or "earmarks" -- Senator McCain, President Obama, most other politicians (when the ham is on someone else's plate) political watchdog groups, and the public. But the reality of American politics is, that's the way business gets done in Congress. Without something to trade, without incentives, the Democrats will have few options. If it's a choice between deadlock or hamhock, I suspect the animus against earmarks will be reexamined, and it may be absolutely necessary to put pork back on the menu at the Republican table.
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