(NDC) Senate hands Bush his first veto override
- From: RickNBarbInSD <rickdowling@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:28:10 -0800
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/08/congress.water/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate on Thursday handed President Bush his
first veto override -- authorizing $23 billion in new water projects.
The vote was 79-14. Approval by two-thirds of the Senate, 67 members,
was required for passage.
Bush spiked the measure Friday despite its overwhelming bipartisan
support, calling it too costly and complaining that the 900 projects
it authorized would overtax the Army Corps of Engineers.
But the House of Representatives passed it again Tuesday on a 361-54
vote -- well beyond the two-thirds margin needed for an override --
and the White House said it was resigned to seeing the bill become
law. See a chart of recent and historical vetoes »
Supporters said the projects authorized under the Water Resources
Development Act are necessary to rebuild the Gulf Coast after the
devastation of Hurricane Katrina, restore the Everglades and Great
Lakes fisheries and build flood-control projects nationwide.
They said it has been more than seven years since Congress passed a
major water resources bill.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California who was responsible for
shepherding the bill through the Senate, said the Senate was sending
the president a message.
"You should respect the Senate, the House, the Congress and American
people because we are elected, too," Boxer said. "We are close to the
people. We know what their needs are."
Florida Sens. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, and Mel Martinez, a Republican,
said they also decided to vote to override the veto, noting that the
bill authorizes nearly $2 billion for Florida projects, most of it
related to the Everglades.
"It's time for us to save one of the great natural wonders of the
world," Nelson said at a news conference.
Before Thursday's vote, two senators from states hard-hit by Hurricane
Katrina -- a Republican and a Democrat -- urged their peers to
override the veto.
"This is about flood protection, this is about water and sewer
projects, it is about doing something about water and the proper
salinity in the Gulf of Mexico.
"These are good, deserved, justified projects that should go forward,"
said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, whose home in Pascagoula was
wiped out by the storm.
"A quarter of the state probably wouldn't even exist if we didn't have
flood control projects," Lott said. Nearly every president has had
trouble with water resource programs, and Bush was "just trying to
hold the line on spending."
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, said the bill has overwhelming
support from both sides.
Landrieu said the bill will lay a foundation for reconstruction after
the storm, which killed more than 1,800 people in Louisiana and
Mississippi.
The measure will fund projects including the reconstruction of levees
around New Orleans, Louisiana, and closing off the Mississippi River-
Gulf Outlet -- a manmade channel blamed for funneling Katrina's storm
surge into the city's Lower 9th Ward and neighboring St. Bernard
Parish.
In his veto message, Bush complained that Congress added about $8
billion in projects to the bill in committee after each house had
passed its own version. "American taxpayers should not be asked to
support a pork-barrel system of federal authorization and funding
where a project's merit is an afterthought," he said.
In a statement issued after Thursday's vote, the White House said,"No
one is surprised that this veto was overridden."
But, White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said in the statement,
"It's obvious that the bill doesn't make difficult choices and doesn't
set spending priorities. We don't believe it's a responsible way to
budget."
Bush's veto of the water projects bill was the fifth veto of his
presidency. All of those came in his second term, according to Senate
data.
Bush has vetoed fewer bills than any president since James A.
Garfield, who issued no vetoes during his seven months in office in
1881.
Congress unsuccessfully attempted to override three of the president's
previous four vetoes.
.
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