how much has been spent on pork barrel projects
it s challenging to estimate the amount that has been spent on pork barrel projects because the term isn t officially defined nor do all forms of wasteful spending get classified as pork barrel spending according to cagw the fiscal year 2022 saw 7 396 earmarks costing around 26 1 billion 6 this is just one organization s estimate and not necessarily definitive the bottom linepork barrel politics refers to a practice in which elected officials secure funding for local infrastructure or projects that benefit their constituents commonly in exchange for political support these projects may be slipped into bigger bills that have little do with the local initiatives pork barrel projects have been criticized as wasteful there have been attempts to reign it in though fiscally conservative critics argue that it remains an issue 