The New York Times - In First Bush Veto Override, Senate Enacts Water Bill


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By Press, Section News
Posted on Sun Nov 11, 2007 at 05:55:51 AM EST

By DAVID STOUT, The New York Times

The Senate voted overwhelmingly today for a popular $23 billion water projects measure affecting locales across the country, thereby handing President Bush his first defeat in a veto showdown with Congress.

The vote was 79 to 14, far more than the two-thirds needed to override the veto that President Bush cast last Friday. Only 12 Republicans voted against the measure, and just two Democrats, Senators Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin and Claire McCaskill of Missouri. 

On Tuesday, the House voted by 361 to 54 in favor of the bill, also well over the two-thirds barrier to nullify the veto.

Enactment of the water projects measure had been widely expected, despite the veto, given the importance of the bill to individual districts and, of course, the lawmakers that represent them. The measure embraces huge endeavors like restoration of the Florida Everglades and relief to hurricane-stricken communities along the Gulf Coast and smaller ones like sewage-treatment plants, dams and beach protection that are important to smaller constituencies.

The bill authorizes the projects but does not appropriate the money for them. Appropriation of funds will have to be taken care of in subsequent legislation.

The veto of the water bill was the fifth cast by Mr. Bush, and the first to be overridden by Congress. The president and some Republicans had complained that the bill was wasteful. Some critics said that the measure did not do enough to reform the Army Corps of Engineers, which would handle much of the work; that there is already a huge backlog of water-related projects waiting for money; and that the current bill was larded with political pork.

But, as the comments of lawmakers made clear today, pork is in the eye of the beholder. 

The bill "is one of the few areas where we actually do something constructive," Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Republican whip, told The Associated Press. He said the bill contains "good, deserved, justified projects."

Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, also argued in favor of overriding the veto. "This bill is enormously important, and it has been a long time coming," Mr. Vitter said.

Mr. Lott and Mr. Vitter side with President Bush far more often than they oppose him. But both senators represent areas that were hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina, and their votes to override Mr. Bush's veto underscored the adage that politics is basically local, or at least regional.

Then, too, the bill was the first water-projects measure in several years, so there was plenty of pent-up demand for money in locales from coast to coast.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, said the veto override "sends an unmistakable message that Democrats both will continue to strengthen our environment and economy and will refuse to allow President Bush to block America's real priorities for partisan reasons." 

"The Water Resources Development Act provides authority for essential new navigation projects and funds programs to combat flood and coastal-storm damage, restore ecosystems, and projects guided by the Army Corps of Engineers essential to protecting the people of the Gulf Coast region," Mr. Reid said.

Mr. Bush previously vetoed a stem cell-research bill (twice), an Iraq spending bill that set guidelines for withdrawing troops and, most recently, a children's health insurance bill. 

Senator Feingold said he was disappointed at the lost opportunity to fix "this flawed, bloated bill," and dismayed that "many of our colleagues think the status quo is acceptable."

"To me, there is nothing acceptable about a $58 billion backlog (soon to be $81 billion) of authorized but unfunded projects," Mr. Feingold said. "Some of my colleagues have argued it is O.K. to authorize $23 billion in projects, because W.R.D.A. only authorizes projects and does not appropriate funds. This approach shirks our responsibility as elected officials." 

The Associated General Contractors of America lobbied hard for passage of the bill. "This week's veto override means that this nation will finally have the opportunity for new investments in improved flood control, increasing navigation capacity and ecosystem restoration," Stephen E. Sandherr, the organization's chief executive, said after the Senate vote.

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The New York Times - In First Bush Veto Override, Senate Enacts Water Bill | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)
House overrides Bush veto of water bill (none / 0) (#1)
by Press on Sun Nov 11, 2007 at 07:03:40 AM EST
By Christopher Doering - Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A veto last week by President George W. Bush of a popular water projects bill was overridden by the House of Representatives on Tuesday, moving Congress closer to enacting legislation that would authorize $23 billion for nearly 900 projects across the United States.

The House voted 361-54 to override the president's veto. The Senate is expected to take up the water bill as early as Wednesday.

If similar action occurs in the Senate, it would mark the first time Congress has mustered enough votes to override the president's veto. Bush has vetoed five bills during his time in office.

"The president chose to stand in the way of this bipartisan legislation, this overwhelming bipartisan legislation, in an attempt to claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer from Maryland. "This is the wrong bill to have done so."

Bush had long threatened to veto the $23 billion bill, saying it was too expensive because it had special projects supported by individual lawmakers.

"No one is surprised that this veto is over-ridden," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

"We understand that members of Congress are going to support the projects in their districts. Budgeting is about making choices and defining priorities -- it doesn't mean you can have everything," he said. "This bill doesn't make the difficult choices; it says we can fund every idea out there."

The Senate passed the bill, 81-12, in September after the House of Representatives approved it by 381-40 a month earlier, both with more than the two-thirds majorities needed to override a presidential veto.

Overall, the legislation authorizes 900 projects and studies.

The bill would provide funding to do coastal restoration in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and improve the Florida Everglades.

It also would include new locks to speed up freight traffic on the Mississippi River. Farm and business groups have campaigned for years to expand navigational capacity on the upper Mississippi, where many of the locks and dams date from the Depression era, in order to remain competitive in the global agriculture trade market.

Bush and Democrats, at loggerheads over his Iraq war strategy, have also been sparring over other spending issues, including a proposal by Democrats to expand a popular children's health program and a series of annual domestic spending bills supported by Congress that exceed a funding limit Bush has suggested.

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The New York Times - In First Bush Veto Override, Senate Enacts Water Bill | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)
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