Podcast | Brookings Cafeteria Podcast
Podcast: Presidents Deliver the Bacon, Too
March 14, 2014, John Hudak and Fred Dews
Pork barrel spending has traditionally been understood as the exclusive domain of Congress. Yet recent presidents are highly engaged in the practice, too, as John Hudak demonstrates in his illuminating new book, "Presidential Pork: White House Influence over the Distribution of Federal Grants" (Brookings, 2014). In this podcast, Hudak, a fellow in Governance Studies, explains how presidents dole out over $100 billion per year in discretionary federal grants through scores of federal agencies, often in service of improving his electoral prospects.