“With Republican opposition and the president opposed to it, it’s very unlikely that it will happen,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of the Senate’s biggest earmarkers. “But I think it’s very short-sighted policy, and it’s going to be very hurtful to Louisiana and a lot of states.”

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said that if the Senate doesn’t earmark money for their projects, they’re not going to allow the president to spend the money in areas that he prefers.

“If he’s going to veto something with earmarks in it; I’m not a fool, we’re not going to move forward on it,” Nelson said after the State of the Union speech. “Look, if everybody gives up earmarks, then I’m in favor of taking that 0.07 percent, taking it out of the budget, we’re not going to leave it for the president to spend, we’re not going to leave it for the bureaucracy to spend, we are going to take it out of the budget.”

Earlier in the day, the initial reaction from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was no kinder.