This study investigates the trade-offs between using funding measures versus spending measures when analyzing federal budget politics.
Data & Methods: We compare recently published findings (Berry and Fowler 2016) with direct military construction appropriation data. While standard spending metrics show no link between committee positions and pork distribution, our analysis of underlying appropriations reveals strong political influence.
Key Findings: Legislators' committee roles significantly impact how they allocate funds within their jurisdiction's budget lines – a relationship obscured by downstream measures.
Pork-barrel politics remains robust despite measurement issues in existing literature.
This research underscores the importance of measuring outcomes at their source to avoid conflating influences and missing direct evidence.