Comment Re:The Senators' rocket design dictates a payload (Score 1) 342
That's not pork, that's access peddling. Similar in character, but pork is more local.
IMHO, has very little to do with either of these, however. This one is all about the upcoming elections. Every Senator on the committee who went for this proposal can haul it home and plaster disembodied figures in the billions all over their ads as proof of their own fiscal responsibility. It doesn't even have to make it to the floor. If it gets blocked they can just link it to an opponent's stance on something not necessarily related and score double points.
Reason #348 why it's so damned easy to get re-elected to the Senate.