At his news conference on December 20, Mr. Bush threatened to cancel earmarks (pet projects) that Congress passed in legislation. He claimed that he ordered his budget chief to review options for not implementing them. This is the same President who signed every single earmark legislation by the Republican controlled Congress for the first 6 years of his administration. It is a phony issue by a President who is so small of a person, he still can not tell the truth.
The Democrats, who took over control of Congress, said they would reduce earmarks and they did exactly that in this bill Bush referred to. A count by "Taxpayers for Common Sense", a group that fights earmarks, reported that the bill sent to Mr. Bush has 25% less earmarks and is less costly than the all time high set by the Republican Congress and Bush in 2005. Regardless what the subject is, this President just can't tell the truth.
Ever since the invasion and occupation of Iraq over WMD that did not exist, Mr. Bush has sent his own earmarks to Congress and outside the budget process at that. As of this writing, his Iraqi earmarks have totaled close to a half trillion dollars. Not only is Bush's deficit spending paying for those earmarks, but so is the money borrowed to pay interest for the dramatic increased in the national debt that he has run on the taxpayers.
Once again, President Bush and the Republicans have demonstrated why they are hypocrites. They utter not one word about their own, record-high earmarks, but when the Democrats cut earmarks by 25%, they cry foul.
