One of the biggest applause lines in President Obama’s State of the Union address was his call to reduce earmarks.

But the cheering faded quickly, and appropriators are already pushing back hard against the president's proposal to eliminate two Transportation Department programs that provide ample opportunities for earmarking.

Obama's fiscal 2011 budget proposal recommends terminating the Surface Transportation Priorities and the Rail Line Relocation Grant programs. Under both programs, virtually all the funds are earmarked by individual lawmakers for specific projects.

The administration contends that both programs duplicate other merit-based programs that distribute transportation funding.

For the current fiscal year, lawmakers distributed more than $293 million to fund 353 projects through the Surface Transportation Priorities program. And Congress funded 27 projects costing almost $25 million through the Rail Line Relocation Grant program.

Steven C. LaTourette, R-Ohio, a member of the House Appropriations subcommittee that handles transportation funding, told Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at a recent hearing that the proposed cuts are a "slap at the U.S. Congress and the Appropriations Committee."

A version of this story first appeared in CQ Today.