Greasing the Wheels: Using Pork Barrel Projects to Build Majority Coalitions in Congress

Other books have documented pork barrel projects in different policy areas, but none has examined the process of using pork to buy votes for broad public policy. This book reveals how Congressional leaders and the President give pork barrel projects to Congressional members' districts to buy their votes for broad-based national legislation. It does so through interviews with key actors--who provide the basis for a rich narrative of the process of passing the bills as well as statistical analysis.