Partisanship, blame avoidance, and the distribution of legislative pork

Recent research has uncovered a majority party advantage in the allocation of federal resources, a relationship seemingly at odds with the bi-partisan support often enjoyed by distributive policies and programs. We reconcile this disjuncture by developing a partisan blame avoidance account of the distribution of legislation. According to this account, the majority party inoculates itself against minority party charges of wasteful spending by including the minority in pork barrel coalitions. At same time, the majority party, mindful of the electoral benefits of bringing home the bacon, reserves the most valuable awards for its members. We assess this account by examining the awarding of appropriations earmarks to institutions of higher education between 1995 and 2000. The partisan blame avoidance account supported.