Ron Paul Wants Millions For Earmarks

WASHINGTON — Rep. Ron Paul vehemently denounced the $410 billion catch-all spending bill approved last week by the House of Representatives.

But although the libertarian-leaning Republican from Lake Jackson cast a vote against the massive spending measure, his fingerprints were on some of the earmarks that helped inflate its cost.

Paul played a role in obtaining 22 earmarks worth $96.1 million, which led the Houston congressional delegation, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of more than 8,500 congressionally mandated projects inserted into the bill. His earmarks included repair projects to the Galveston Seawall damaged by Hurricane Ike and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

Following Paul was Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, who got earmarks worth $63.6 million. But it was a bipartisan spending spree. Just behind the GOP duo were Houston Democrats Al Green with $50.1 million in pet projects and Sheila Jackson Lee with $37.6 million.

Earmarks, said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, “allow lawmakers to have a say in how taxpayer dollars (are) spent.” His nine earmarks included $712,500 to mitigate airport noise at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

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There's a comment left by a person by the name of signul that imo is a good response to this ...

To be fair Ron Paul has been pretty consistent in his support for earmarks:
www.outsidethebeltway.com...

I guess his logic is you should not spend this money but if you are going to take public money from my constituents, you should also spend it in my district. Earmarks also let congress control where the money goes, rather then the executive branch.

Thoughts?

Ron Paul is a politican rep his voters base, he needs to look afer there needs as well or face repurcussions from his voter base

Yes and if you look closely,you'll notice that these earmarks help upgrade safety and interstate infrastructure.It's not like he is setting aside money for shrimp research in Arizona,or a tap dance museum in NewYork.

Already covered in another thread

www.abovetopsecret.com

...to mitigate George Bush noise...