TY  - BOOK
AU  - Stein,Robert M
AU  - Bickers,Kenneth N
TI  - Perpetuating the pork barrel : policy subsystems and American democracy 
SN  - 9780521595841
AV  - HJ275 .S728 1995
U1  - 336.390973 22
PY  - 1995///
CY  - New York 
PB  - Cambridge University Press
KW  - United States
KW  - Congress
KW  - Reform
KW  - Grants-in-aid
KW  - Economic assistance, Domestic
KW  - Budget deficits
KW  - Campaign funds
KW  - Item veto
KW  - Democracy
N1  - Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-226) and index; 1; Policy subsystems and the pork barrel --; 2; The programmatic expansion of U.S. domestic spending --; 3; The geographic scope of domestic spending: A test of the universalism thesis --; 4; A portfolio theory of policy subsystems --; 5; Policy subsystem adaptability and resilience in the Reagan period --; 6; PAC contributions and the distribution of domestic assistance programs --; 7; Congressional elections and the pork barrel --; 8; Policy subsystems in practice and democratic theory --; App. 1 Descriptive data base of domestic assistance programs --; App. 2 Geographical data base of domestic assistance awards --; App. 3 Programs by agency and policy type --; App. 4 Departments and their distributive policy agencies --; App. 5 Federal agencies in four cabinet departments: Budgetary changes proposed by the Reagan administration for FY1983 --; App. 6 Financial assistance programs by public law bundle --; App. 7 PACs whose parent interest groups testified in hearings, grouped by public law and PAC coalition --; App. 8 Roll call votes in the U.S. House of Representatives on nine public laws --; App. 9 Probit results for House roll call votes on nine public laws --; App. 10 Concepts and measures
N2  - This book details the policy subsystems - links among members of Congress, interest groups, program beneficiaries, and federal and subnational government agencies - that blanket the American political landscape. Robert Stein and Kenneth Bickers have constructed a new data-base detailing federal outlays to congressional districts for each federal program, and use it to examine four myths about the impact of policy subsystems on American government and democratic practice; These include the myth that policy subsystems are a major contributor to the federal deficit; that, once created, federal programs grow inexorably and rarely die; that, to garner support for their programs, subsystem actors seek to universalize the geographic scope of program benefits; and that the flow of program benefits to constituencies in congressional districts ensures the reelection of legislators; The authors conclude with an appraisal of proposals for reforming the American political system, including a balanced budget amendment, a presidential line-item veto, term limitations, campaign finance reform, and the reorganization of congressional committees
ER  -