There was some concern that President Bush would block all the earmarks in the 2008 budget by using a technicality of how and where the earmarks were placed.

I was informed he would announce this in his last State of the Union Address. He did make the announcement, but as a warning about what he would do to the 2009 budget.

Inside information has it that since the Democrats are a little more generous with their opposition and let them have 40% of the earmark money, there was strong opposition to Bush blocking the earmarks by Republican Congressmen and Senators. This opposition was probably made more intense by so many of them being up for re-election in a climate unfavorable for Republicans.

One man's pork is another man's desperately needed help. We have been blighted with the old church for years. Years in which it slowly decayed before our eyes and became a eyesore to downtown Raytown.

It is interesting to note that while Bush seems to object to earmarks by Congress now that it is controlled by Democrats, he never made a peep when Republicans had control of the purse strings.

Even more interesting is Bush's use of the same techniques to insert billions more than Congress has, in his own version of earmarks. Bush has tucked billions of earmarks in the budgets he has submitted to Congress over the last 7 years.

From a New York Times article by Robert Pear, published on Feb. 10th, 2008 we read....

WASHINGTON — President Bush often denounces the propensity of Congress to earmark money for pet projects. But in his new budget, Mr. Bush has requested money for thousands of similar projects.

Presidential Projects He asked for money to build fish hatcheries, eradicate agricultural pests, conduct research, pave highways, dredge harbors and perform many other specific local tasks.

The details are buried deep in the president’s budget, just as most Congressional earmarks are buried in obscure committee reports that accompany spending bills.

Thus, for example, the president requested $330 million to deal with plant pests like the emerald ash borer, the light brown apple moth and the sirex woodwasp. He sought $800,000 for the Neosho National Fish Hatchery in Missouri and $1.5 million for a waterway named in honor of former Senator J. Bennett Johnston, a Louisiana Democrat.

For the full article click here.

Evidently President Bush only dislikes earmarks when Democrats are making them. He likes them just fine for himself and when the Republican Congress was in control and making sure their districts got 90% of the money and they got all the credit at home.