Think Progress

Bush Was Against Transportation Earmarks Before He Signed 6,371 of Them Into Law

By Judd on Aug 11th, 2005 at 11:53 am

Bush Was Against Transportation Earmarks Before He Signed 6,371 of Them Into Law»

Bush Administration Budget, 2003:

Across the spectrum of transportation programs, congressional earmarks undercut the [Transportation] Department’s ability to fund projects that have successfully proved their merits

Washington Post, 8/11/05:

[Bush] signed into law a $286 billion transportation measure that contains a record 6,371 pet projects inserted by members of Congress from both parties… Reagan vetoed a transportation bill in 1987 because there were 152 such special requests, known in the parlance of congressional budgeting as “earmarks.”

Comments

44 Responses to “Bush Was Against Transportation Earmarks Before He Signed 6,371 of Them Into Law”

louis Says:

I’m from IL and there are a lot of good projects for our state in this bill so I’m for it. We need good roads.
August 11th, 2005 at 12:03 pm
Brian Says:

I will guess that AT A MINIMUM 50% of that money will go to illegal aliens who will die from lung ailment caused by road construction materials. I build highways for a living.
August 11th, 2005 at 12:09 pm
Susan Says:

Sorry Louis, you may have jumped the gun on this one. Bush only promises funds if our state matches federal funds dollar for dollar. In other words this bill will not help Illinios. Unless YOU have the money to match the federal dollars, Illinois certainly does not. Illinois spent its extra money on Homeland Security with the promise that Bushie would replace it with Federal funds. He lied about that are our surplus is gone. If you want new roads, expect higher taxes.

His vistit here was to talk (in private) about relocating the National Guard base from Midway Airport to Aurora. Aurora has a very large population of undocumented Mexicans and Bushie’s plan is to offer them deportation or Iraq.

Bushie is a sneak and you should always read between the lines when he offers you something.

How do you know when Bushie is lying?….his lips are moving.
August 11th, 2005 at 12:11 pm
progressive and proud Says:

Beware very aware of Bush bearing gifts.
August 11th, 2005 at 12:19 pm
Liberal, Progressive & Lethal Says:

Actually Susan, Bush’s lips only move when Karl Rove’s hand is up his ass. But that’s when he’s lying alright.
August 11th, 2005 at 12:20 pm
Greenspan Says:

Judd, maybe you didn’t notice, but the President did succeed in getting rid of some of the pork. And he defeated a congressional move to raise your and my gas taxes. That’s a good thing for everyone, including the sofa taters on this site.
August 11th, 2005 at 12:44 pm
Krazny Says:

funny that you have to hurl an insult there greenie. Sure bush reduced some pork from the budget. However we still have a defecit of epic proportions thanks to W.
August 11th, 2005 at 12:54 pm
Citizen80203 Says:

Amazing how far the Republicans have gone over the edge of arrogance. They are so sure of their power that a larval bill like this can be now grown in broad daylight. Is it an assurance of future election fraud or they know that gaystemcell republicans will carry every election?
August 11th, 2005 at 1:04 pm
Greenspan Says:

Actually, Krazny, that deficit is coming down at a record rate - and all because of the President’s aggressive program of tax cuts and economic incentives. You can’t have it both ways!
August 11th, 2005 at 1:14 pm
Citizen80203 Says:

Greenspan is a blog guerilla DO NOT RESPOND TO HIM. He is only honing skills for future arguments against college dems!
August 11th, 2005 at 1:16 pm
progressive and proud Says:

Yeah, funny Greedyspan. Where did the surplus go? AND, who in the @&*%*(&^*& got all of this tax cut crap? You are a brainwashed idiot and everyone here knows it. When you spew your garbage it only makes our point.

You can’t call shit gold and have an intelligent being believe it.
August 11th, 2005 at 1:19 pm
Susan Says:

Greenspan says he’s raising interest rates AGAIN!

Hey WGN News Chicago (Republican station) just covered the Cindy Sheehan story!

Another victory for the Bush Bashers!
August 11th, 2005 at 1:19 pm
progressive and proud Says:

Citizen, point taken.
August 11th, 2005 at 1:21 pm
Greenspan Says:

ThatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s right, Citizen, you canÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t respond because thereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s nothing to rebut. Just let the truth sink in. Then you wonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t feel like responding.
August 11th, 2005 at 1:23 pm
Krazny Says:

according to government figures the increase in the deficit will not be as much as originally forcast. not the deficit is coming down at a record rate. I am sorry the government won’t back you up on your absurd statement but maybe Limbaugh will.
August 11th, 2005 at 1:29 pm
KJ Lovell Says:

Judd, maybe you didnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t notice, but the President did succeed in getting rid of some of the pork. And he defeated a congressional move to raise your and my gas taxes. ThatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a good thing for everyone, including the sofa taters on this site.

Comment by Greenspan Ã¢â‚¬â€ August 11, 2005 @ 12:44 pm

#6, Thank God Shrubya removed some of the pork.
But what you fail to see, and again I can not fix your stupidity or BLIND faith in “dear leader”, is that you ARE PAYING MORE FOR YOUR GAS.

SO, I suppose you would rather pay more for your gas KNOWING THE INCREASE is not going for taxes, BUT DIRECTLY INTO THE FRIENDS OF THE SHRUB.

Wow, I bet you have some INTERESTING views on civil rights too.
August 11th, 2005 at 1:32 pm
Jesus the leftist Says:

Payoffs, hush money, political favors, bribery etc.
They have in mind the privatization of highways in the future and just like the military/space program ,we the people will pay for its’ development.
They will strangle anything that smells of, a social benefit for all.
August 11th, 2005 at 1:34 pm
Citizen80203 Says:

I guess I should say it is ok to MOCK these Connie blog guerillas. Just don’t engage in serious discourse with them.
August 11th, 2005 at 1:34 pm
Greenspan Says:

Fine with me, Citizen. Either way, the truth gets told.
August 11th, 2005 at 1:41 pm
Greenspan with yellow sneakers Says:

I’m just pissing in the wind.
August 11th, 2005 at 1:51 pm
Jennty Says:

Duhbuhya said he’d veto the bill if it was above his “line in the sand”. Well, 40 billion steps past the line he merrily signs away. Bush never met a spending bill he didn’t like.

Once uppon a time Republicans tried to stand for fiscal responsibility, well they campaigned on it at least… now look what we have.
August 11th, 2005 at 1:54 pm
Kesh Says:

Y’know how Clinton said he managed to “balance the budget” when he was in office? He didn’t. By juggling the numbers in various government accounts, it could be made to LOOK like they were coming out even… when really, the deficit was still there.

Guess what Bush & Co. are doing? You bet their accountants are getting a workout to trim that budget number. Surprisingly, they’re not as good as Clinton’s. Or, they just can’t hide that much money.

Either way, claiming he “reduced the deficit” is ludicrous. After all, Bush’s polices are the ones responsible for the record deficit last year anyway. Cooking the books to make this year’s budget look better than last year’s isn’t exactly something that inspires confidence in our leadership.
August 11th, 2005 at 1:57 pm
Jon Says:

YABFF - Yet Another Bush Flip-Flop.
August 11th, 2005 at 2:31 pm
Jeff Says:

#19 by whom? The current admin.? their media? Please take your naivete elsewhere.
August 11th, 2005 at 3:01 pm
Susan Says:

OIL PRICES AT A NEW RECORD HIGH, $66 PER BARREL!
August 11th, 2005 at 3:16 pm
Tony Says:

From my (conservative) standpoint, the only thing worse than overspending by democrats is overspending by republicans. I hate it.
August 11th, 2005 at 4:51 pm
Marie Says:

Did I hear the MSM call Bush on the flip-flop? Oh, no, they are still hypnotized by bright shiny objects.
August 11th, 2005 at 5:53 pm
Brian Says:

Not one of you clowns care about who puts the $ in their pockets? Greenspan tripped your wires…
August 11th, 2005 at 10:26 pm
KJ Lovell Says:

#22, IDIOT ALERT!!!!!!

Do you actually hear yourself?

You idiots cannot stand it that Clinton managed to balance the budget, (not cook the books i.e.: Enron) and managed to be actually LIKED BY THE MAJORITY, and infact left office with…. are you ready….

LEFT OFFICE WITH THE BIGGEST BUDGET SURPLUS IN HISTORY

H I S T O R Y!!!!!

You also cannot stand the fact the this trained monkey called shrubya took that same RECORD BUDGET SURPLUS and

LEFT US WITH THE BIGGEST BUDGET DEFECIT IN HISTORY.

H I S T O R Y.

Your mother should have sought an abortion!
August 12th, 2005 at 1:55 am
KJ Lovell Says:

DID I MENTION THAT CLINTON DIDN’T LIE AND CAUSE
THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT PEOPLE TO DIE just to

get a kick out of telling a pack of lies to make money for himself and his
cronies!!!!
August 12th, 2005 at 1:57 am
KJ Lovell Says:

Also,

HEAR THAT TICK TICK TICK???? That is the counter on the

BILLIONS THAT YOUR TRAINED MONKEY IS SPENDING (OUR DOLLARS) FOR THIS ILLEGAL WAR.

That same ticking is the counter on people dying for his lies.

That same ticking is the counter running out on
the trained monkey and his handlers …. time for jail bonzo or is that BOZO???
August 12th, 2005 at 2:00 am
Tony Says:

KJ Lovell,
Clinton did not balance the budget. Here’s the total debt figures from http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm

09/28/2001 $5,807,463,412,200.06
09/29/2000 $5,674,178,209,886.86
09/30/1999 $5,656,270,901,615.43
09/30/1998 $5,526,193,008,897.62
09/30/1997 $5,413,146,011,397.34
09/30/1996 $5,224,810,939,135.73
09/29/1995 $4,973,982,900,709.39
09/30/1994 $4,692,749,910,013.32
09/30/1993 $4,411,488,883,139.38
09/30/1992 $4,064,620,655,521.66
09/30/1991 $3,665,303,351,697.03
August 12th, 2005 at 3:08 pm
KillCon2005 Says:

Oh please, Tony. Go away.
August 12th, 2005 at 5:09 pm
KillCon2005 Says:

It’s all Clinton’s fault. He won’t let Tony dump toxic waste on his own holy and inviolate private property. Thank you, Bill Clinton, for stopping morons like Tony. If only you had burned him out, too, like those wackos at Waco.

Note that the deficit is distinct from the government’s debt (often confusingly called the national debt or public debt), which results from an accumulated deficit across a number of years. Often, a certain part of spending is dedicated to paying of debt with certain maturity, which can be refinanced by issuing new bonds. That is, a fiscal deficit leads to an increase in an entity’s debt to others… [T]he federal budget deficit accelerated, topping out (in absolute terms) at $290 billion for 1992. In 1998 - 2001, however, gross revenues exceeded expenditures. Subsequently the budget has returned to a deficit basis; the estimated U.S. deficit for fiscal year 2004 is $412.6 billion.
August 12th, 2005 at 5:19 pm
the daily phosdex Says:

At least someone is starting to take concrete steps towards serious review of such waste and inefficency: Specifically, Your Correspondent.

Who, you will be pleased to hear, is calling upon the Inspectors-General of the Transportation Departments of the several Midwestern states to subject their allocation of funding under said legislation to especially close watch and review, especially so the projects identified as purely political (as opposed to the practical and needful).

And, as explained in his weblog for all interested to see, is urging like-minded, “Right-Thinking Americans” to take similar measures in their respective states.

All this for the sake of the good taxpayers vis-a-vis the larger transportation paradigm, know.
August 13th, 2005 at 10:52 am
Kesh Says:

#29, I’m a moderate Democrat who personally knows people who make their living as accountants for various government offices. Most of which are either Democrats or independents.

All of them agreed that Clinton didn’t balance anything. They saw the numbers, they saw the paperwork, they knew it didn’t add up. Money was shuffled so it would look balanced, but that’s like moving money from one of my checking accounts to the other just to show how well my cash flow is doing. Oh, and don’t look at the other account, while you’re at it.

Look, Clinton did some good things. He did some damn foolish things. Overall, he was a mediocre president. But, to his credit, he didn’t send our budget skyrocketing, nor did he throw our troops into a war without putting enough people on the ground in the first place.
August 13th, 2005 at 6:39 pm
KJ Lovell Says:

Notice that tonie bologna started in ‘91….

Besides I don’t see any brackets or minuses you idiot.

If I cared what you thought I might check you out, but I don’t and besides

If PRESIDENT (THE LAST ELECTED ONE) Clinton didn’t balance the budget and leave the largest BUDGET SURPLUS IN HISTORY don’t you think you would have heard this for ….THE TWO LEGAL terms that he was in office from that
foul mouth, sexually minded, empty headed bill o LIElly?

If you love bush so much, go stand in the heat in that ditch in crawford and call Ms. Sheehan a (what is it they yell at her?… oh yes) whore.

I was in that area of Texas this weekend, and guess what THE ONLY POLITICAL STICKERS I SAW WERE AGAINST YOUR MONKEYBOY shrubya. HMMMMM. Guess they are all glad he is gone from Austin.
August 14th, 2005 at 10:12 pm
KJ Lovell Says:

if shrubya had the big ole brass balls these rightwing wing nuts that invade this site have,

he would have the balls to go out and meet with her. Oh heck, maybe he would even roll the window down as he blazes past her to the nazi rallies and FLIP HER OFF. Maybe uncle kkkarl told him that looks bad on TV.

So it seems the monkeyboy has been “fixed”.
August 14th, 2005 at 10:17 pm
KJ Lovell Says:

For anyone observing #36- or shrubya

Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves,
Matthew 7:15
August 14th, 2005 at 10:19 pm
KJ Lovell Says:

shrubya can not even keep his story straight,
his handlers told him to tell the American people that an energy bill would not make a bit of difference at the pumps,

NOW ALL THE SUDDEN, shrubya’s handlers tell him to tell the American people it is very good to have an energy bill.

Boy, talk about spin.

Pity they can not spin their way out of treason, and an illegal war, largest debts in history, record home foreclosures, and

tax breaks for rich, tax hikes for poor, bad education policies, and

HORRID FOREIGN POLICY!!!

shrubya and his handlers could not THINK themselves out of a BODYBAG!

Do you feel a big ole’ draft in ‘06?
August 14th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
KJ Lovell Says:

by the way #36…

When you saw Farenheit 911 what did you think?

How do you feel about Gay Marriage?

What are your views exactly of abortion?

How do you feel now that slave’s are FREE?

Tell us dear….
August 15th, 2005 at 3:59 am
KJ Lovell Says:

They never answer questions.

They only try to spin the facts.

They never admit they were or ARE WRONG!

They never admit anything, and if they DO, beware, there is a motive behind it.

THE RIGHTWINGNUTS SPENT 8 YEARS TRYING TO DEFILE A LEGALLY ELECTED PRESIDENT THAT WAS ACTUALLY

L I K E D B Y THE P E O P L E!!!!!!

And they never got any satisfaction out of their witch hunts. This pisses them off more than being called

n a z i’s and neoCON’s.

They don’t want the people to have a voice.

BOY ARE THEY WRONG!
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