Pork barrel spending is only 1% of national spending. This amount of "waste"[0] is hardly a large problem. It also serves a valuable purpose, it gets congressman to vote against their own interests to ensure a functional democracy. Pork barrel spending was used to pass both the Civil Rights Act, and to stop the recent government shutdowns.

[0] - Most of pork barrel spending is not on bridges to no where but on research for diseases, local roads, police officers, VA benefits, emergency response to hurricane Sandy etc...