WASHINGTON - The stampede in Congress to fund pet projects with taxpayer money could have trampled efforts by two Massachusetts lawmakers to secure $1 million to honor Dr. Seuss.

But Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Representative Richard E. Neal, a Springfield Democrat, were undeterred, launching the back-room ritual of pork-barrel politics that all but determines whether a lawmaker goes home flush with special-project dollars or empty handed.

Neal, whose bid for Seuss money failed a year ago, scored a partial victory this year with an assist from Kennedy. Tucked into the massive budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development is a $400,000 provision to help build a bronze memorial to Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, in the author's hometown of Springfield.