Following up on yesterday's post about the president's commitment to earmark reform, I asked press secretary Robert Gibbs at today's briefing about a CQ report that claimed to have found an earmark request from then-Senator Obama.

Gibbs had said yesterday that Obama's sincerity in opposing earmarks was shown in the fact that he had not requested any special projects in the bill. Today, he insisted that was still the case, and provided copies of a letter signed by Obama and 36 other senators asking the relevant subcommittee chairs to consider an increase in funding for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Program.

"For some people [that] constitutes that earmark," Gibbs said. "There's no funding level in here. The president as a senator did not request an earmark for the final two years [of his Senate term]."

Aides point out that the Perkins program is an existing program through the Department of Education, and that when Obama signed the letter supporting increased funding, he was not doing so with an eye to helping any particular institutions in his home state. The funding increase aided institutions in North Dakota and New Mexico. A White House spokesperson also indicated that Obama's name would be removed from the legislation, which Rob Blumenthal, an Appropriations Committee spokesperson confirmed.

The Committee released this statement on the issue:

"When then-Senator Obama signed a letter (dated April 2, 2008) advocating for the Perkins Act, the Tribally Controlled program was not an earmark. The program did not identify particular institutions. It identified a set of criteria and awarded funding to any eligible entity. "On August 14th (after the reporting of the Senate LHHS bill), the Higher Education Opportunity Act became law, which changed the authorization of the Tribally Controlled program. The new authorization identifies particular schools, making the program an earmark. However, the new authorization also moves the program out of the Perkins Act and into the Higher Education Act. Since then-Senator Obama requested funding for the Perkins Act, he did not request the earmark. The record will be corrected to reflect these facts."

Gibbs was also asked about whether the president indicated any concern about the current omnibus bill with Democratic leaders when they met at the White House yesterday. Various reports indicated that the president had urged the leadership to address criticism from Republicans about earmarks and increases in rates of spending. But Gibbs said he would not address any private conversations the president had.