Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President' s recent highway project cancellations demonstrate a vindictive desire to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties  They offer as evidence the fact that 90 percent of the projects canceled were in such districts  But all of the canceled projects had been identified as wasteful in a report written by respected nonpartisan auditors
So the President' s choice was clearly motivated by sound budgetary policy, not partisan politics
The highway projects canceled in districts controlled by the President's party were not generally more expensive than the projects canceled in districts controlled by opposition parties.