From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpork barrelˈpork ˌbarrel noun [singular, uncountable] American English informal PGPPa government plan to increase the amount of money spent in a particular area, done in order to gain a political advantage – used to show disapproval pork-barrel spending
Examples from the Corpus
pork barrel• With the UDCs we find a very straight forward pork barrel subsidizing of particular development capital interests through the use of public resources.• This is known as the politics of the pork barrel.• The second is the desire by some elected officials to retain control over the pork barrel, through line items.• Money for water projects is a common type of Washington pork barrel.From Longman Business Dictionarypork barrelˈpork ˌbarrel noun [singular, uncountable] American English informal disapproving a government plan to increase the amount of money spent in a particular area in order to gain a political advantageOne person’s pork barrel is another’s local courthouse or dam. 