Pork-barrel spending is nothing new in Congress.

In fact, its a way of life.

Pork sends money to lawmakers pet projects a road here, a bridge there, a new dam or museum or research grant. But it can also take the form of drought relief for farmers and disaster assistance for those hit by floods or tornadoes.

Getting that money makes lawmakers look good back home, where a project is only considered ‘pork if it benefits those in other states. And that can translate to votes come election day.

Over the years, shrewd power brokers in Congress have dangled the promise of pork to sway votes in favor of certain bills. The idea is to load the bills with unrelated pork projects and entice those on the fence to vote ‘yes when the time comes.

House Democrats, those same souls who railed against Republican spending and vowed to rein in such excesses, are using that very same technique to pass their Iraq war funding bill, which is geared toward ending the war next year.

The Iraq war funding bill is packed with billions and billions of dollars for projects near and dear to lawmakers and their constituents, including millions for peanut warehouses in Georgia, relief for spinach growers in California hurt by last years E. coli scare, money to rebuild New Orleans levees, half a billion dollars for wildfire suppression in Western states and much, much more.

Such a bounty just might decide the undecided and prompt a change of heart in those opposed.

Voting on the bill is set for Thursday.

Weve already seen the Democrats choose political expediency over their promise to cut back on pork-barrel spending. On Thursday well see whether the possibility of a windfall of pork matters more to some lawmakers than do their previously trumpeted convictions.