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by IAmBroom 366 days ago
The voting public never sees these costs.

They are sometimes told about it, tenth-hand, such as the fabled $10,000-hammer and the gold toilet seat.

Congress itself sees these costs, or more precisely, teams working for congressmembers see them. Congress members approve bills that are not lowest-cost when there is personal benefit for their careers: pork-barrel. It's very hard to justify not-lowest-cost without a pork-barrel angle.