The appropriations process determines how much money is allocated to a budget. Ron Paul votes NO on these appropriations.
Earmarks only specify how some of that appropriated money is spent.
I don’t think it needs to be any harder to understand than that.
But continuing to allocate money from the appropriations continues to increase the baseline, no matter how he votes, he is still responsible in part for the ever increasing baseline (substance over symbolic vote). If the money is not all spent form the appropriations, it reduces the following year’s baseline.