Bush Seeks Funds for N.H. Project

President Bush wants to give New Hampshire, the state conducting the first presidential primary, a $35.6-million annex to the existing federal building and courthouse in Concord, according to the fiscal 1993 budget.

Bush drew applause Tuesday night in his State of the Union address when he called on Congress to end “the ritual of filling the budget with pork-barrel appropriations.” But the project in the New Hampshire capital, which received congressional approval last fall for $3.5 million to cover its design, appears to have been placed on the fast track by the White House.

Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.) first broached the matter with General Services Administration officials in August, 1990, an aide said. When told Wednesday that Bush’s new budget contained construction funds for the annex in Concord, the Rudman aide responded: “That’s news to us.”