In Congress, pork is always on the menu: spending bills are traditionally filled with special-interest items known as pork. This year, lawmakers' pet projects could cost a record $23 billion.

Like most members of Congress, Representative Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.) tries to do what he can for the folks back home. So when the House passed a catch-all spending bill in December, Gibbons wasted no time in announcing that he had secured millions of dollars for Nevada, including $6 million for a bus terminal and $1.6 million for drinking-water improvements.

But it was the $225,000 to repair a swimming pool in his hometown of Sparks that got Gibbons in hot water. The 59-year-old Congressman confessed that he sought the money because he had always felt guilty about clogging the pool's drain with tadpoles when he was 10 years old.

Gibbons, who defends the project, is not the only lawmaker riding the pork gravy train this year.

$50 MILLION RAIN FOREST

This particular spending bill was stuffed with an estimated 7,000 special-interest provisions, from $50 million for an indoor rain forest in Iowa to $150,000 for a stop light and traffic improvements in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. Under the measure, which became law in January, spending on pet projects--which has more than doubled in the last five years--could reach a record $23 billion this year, according to watchdog groups that track federal spending.

The practice of stuffing special-interest provisions, known as "pork-barrel projects," into a large congressional spending bill is a time-honored tradition in Washington. But some congressional observers are dismayed by the size of the special-interest projects this year. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) says they are siphoning money away from higher priorities at many agencies.

Every state--indeed, nearly every congressional district, whether Democratic or Republican--is the recipient of pork projects. The bill includes $220,000 to renovate a blueberry research center at the University of Maine, and $500,000 for a program at the University of Akron in Ohio that examines how Congress makes budget decisions, which Senator Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) calls "most ironic."

"It's worse than ever, and it's even more egregious because the Republicans are in charge, and everyone thought that they would be fiscally responsible," says Tom Schatz of Citizens Against Government Waste, an advocacy group.

Lawmakers--who prefer the term "earmark" to "pork"--defend the practice. "Look, this is the standard practice the United States Congress has had for decades," Gibbons says. "They allocate a percentage of the budget to go to special projects in various members' districts. There are thousands in there. I have one of those thousands. I do not regard this as pork."

The amount of money set aside for earmarks has been increasing. Representative Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), the House Majority Leader, says the practice began escalating during the Clinton presidency, when Republican lawmakers decided they had "the right to direct spending to our districts, rather than wait on some bureaucrat to decide whether it was a useful project or not." But Pete Sepp, spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union, a group that is critical of pork barrel spending, notes that when Clinton was President, the federal government had a surplus.

Of course, one man's pork is another man's economic development. Take the Iowa Environmental/Education Project. It is intended as a tourist destination, with replicas of ecosystems, like a 4.5 acre indoor rain forest. Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Ia.) secured $50 million for it, hoping it will infuse $120 million a year into Iowa's flagging economy.

One reason such earmarks flourish is that they help create support for passing larger, sometimes controversial appropriations bills: It's hard for any lawmaker to vote against a bill that has earmarks that would help his of her district.

Lawmakers maintain that their special-interest projects answer needs in their states or districts. Representative Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) got $150,000 for the traffic equipment in Briarcliff Manor, which she says will improve safety at a local school. Gibbons says the mayor of Sparks asked him for money to improve the pool. It was only then, nearly hall a century after what people in his district have called "the Polliwog Caper," that the Congressman's long-held secret came out.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

* Why do you think lawmakers prefer to use the term "earmarks" rather than "pork"?

* Who is more to blame for pork-barrel politics, members of Congress who put pork in bills, or home-district voters who benefit from the projects?

TEACHING OBJECTIVES

To help students understand "pork-barrel" politics, the spending for special home-district projects that members of Congress insert into annual appropriations bills.

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

BACKGROUND: The term "pork-barrel politics" became popular in the 19th century. The eagerness of members of Congress to get funding for their home-district projects was likened to the rush by slaves to get their share of salt pork, which was occasionally dispensed from large barrels.

RESEARCH/CRITICAL THINKING: Have a student contact the local office of his of her U.S. Representative. The volunteer should explain that the class is researching congressional spending and would like to know what federal projects, if any, the Representative has procured or is planning to procure for their district. The student should report his of her findings to the class.

If there are federally funded projects in the student's district, are classmates familiar with them? Could the projects be called "wasteful" of do they make a positive contribution to the community? Could students defend them to some one from outside the district who criticized them as pork?

PROJECT PROPOSALS: If there are no important federal projects in or near their community, students might write brief proposals in which they explain why federal money is needed to build Project X or restore site Y.

ROLE-PLAY/WRITING EXERCISE: Refer students to the three projects that Representative Jim Gibbons has secured for his district. Tell students to play the role of a press assistant. Their job is to write a brief announcement extolling the virtues of the projects described in the article. How would they refute criticism of the projects as pork?

WEB WATCH: www.cagw.org/site /PageServer?pagename=reports _porkbarrelreport is the Web site of Citizens Against Government Waste, a group that opposes pork-barrel projects. Scroll down to see two graphs showing the number and cost of pork projects identified by the group.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports from Washington for The New York Times.