| a government appropriation, bill, or policy that supplies funds for local improvements designed to ingratiate legislators with their constituents. |
| pork barrel n. Slang A government project or appropriation that yields jobs or other benefits to a specific locale and patronage opportunities to its political representative. [From pork barrel, barrel for storing pork, supply of money.] |
pork barrel
Government funding of something that benefits a particular district, whose legislator thereby wins favor with local voters. For example, Our senator knows the value of the pork barrel. This expression alludes to the fatness of pork, equated with political largesse since the mid-1800s. [c. 1900]