Rep. Paul Ryan<\/font><\/strong>, a Wisconsin Republican who called the stimulus a "wasteful spending spree<\/strong>" that "misses the mark on all coun<\/strong>ts," wrote to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in October in support of a grant application from a group in his district which, he said, "intends to place 1,000 workers in green jobs<\/strong>." <\/p>\n Republican Reps. Sue Myrick<\/font><\/strong> of North Carolina and Jean Schmidt<\/font><\/strong> of Ohio sent letters in October asking for consideration of funding requests from local organizations training workers for energy-efficiency projects<\/strong>. <\/p>\n The Environmental Protection Agency received two letters from Sen. John Cornyn<\/font><\/strong> of Texas asking for consideration of grants for clean diesel projects<\/strong> in San Antonio and Houston. Mr. Cornyn is the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. One of the letters was signed jointly with Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison<\/font><\/strong>, also of Texas. <\/p>\n The agency also appeared to have received eight identical letters<\/strong> from Republican Sen. Bob Bennett<\/font><\/strong> of Utah recommending infrastructure projects in his state<\/strong>, seven of which were sent before stimulus legislation was passed by Congress. <\/p>\n The entire congressional delegation of Alabama<\/font><\/strong>, including its two Republican senators, wrote to then-Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell asking for $15 million for cogongrass eradication and control<\/strong> programs in the state. The state ended up getting a $6.3 million grant. <\/p>\n It’s not just the WSJ and Washington Times that are paying attention. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune <\/span>reports<\/a> that Gov. Tim Pawlenty<\/font><\/strong> used stimulus funds to balance his state’s budget<\/strong>. TPM <\/span>notes<\/a> new Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell<\/font><\/strong> has privately thanked the administration for offering stimulus funds to his state<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n Based on these and other reports, the Obama Administration is mounting an <\/span>aggressive defense<\/a> of the stimulus program, pointing to the ‘slam it in public, beg for it in private’<\/strong> hypocrisy of its Republican critics\u2026 [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n![\"roadtorecovery\"](\"http:\/\/s217.photobucket.com\/albums\/cc83\/TomCat1948or2\/Blog%202010\/J-M\/GOPHypocritesBeggingforStimulation_2DB5\/roadtorecovery.jpg\" "\\"roadtorecovery\\"")
<\/a> The Wall Street Journal <\/span>has followed up<\/a> on The Washington Times <\/span>report<\/a> about Republican lawmakers who publicly opposed the stimulus but privately sought stimulus funds to create jobs in their states and districts. Some nuggets:<\/span><\/p>\n