Congress to Override Bush Veto of Water Bill

By Anastacia Mott Austin

House Democrats were not able to garner enough support to override President Bush’s veto of the SCHIP children’s health insurance bill, but both parties feel confident about being able to easily override the President’s most recent veto.

The Water Resources Development Act is a $23 million bill which will allow for hurricane damage repair, wetlands restoration, and flood prevention, along with hundred of other water projects. President Bush vetoed the bill Friday.

Though not surprised by Bush’s veto, the Dems still had plenty to say about it.

"When we override this irresponsible veto, perhaps the President will finally recognize that Congress is an equal branch of government and reconsider his many other reckless veto threats," said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

The President’s press secretary, Dana Perino, said that he had vetoed the bill because it was "fiscally irresponsible," and that it had added $9 billion in costs.

It is interesting to note that the President never vetoed similar bills with spending increases when Republicans controlled the House. Some say this reveals the mounting tensions between the President and Democrats in Congress, whom he has been freely criticizing as of late.

But House members aren’t backing down.

"Every day brings new evidence that President Bush is out of touch with the American people and their priorities," said Reid to the press. "More than two years after failing to respond to the devastation and destruction of Hurricane Katrina, he is refusing to fund important projects guided by the Army Corps of Engineers that are essential to protecting the people of the Gulf Coast region."

Added Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who is the leader of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, "[This] breaks his commitment to the people of Louisiana to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina; breaks his commitment to America's communities to make them economically strong and protect them from flooding; breaks his commitment to make America’s infrastructure a priority; and breaks his commitment to restore our environment, including the Everglades."

Even Republicans felt that the bill made sense. "We are facing a water infrastructure crisis and our national investment in water resources has not kept pace with our level of economic expansion," said George Voinovich (R-OH).

If the likely override does occur, the bill will include $7 billion for various hurricane response and protection plans for Mississippi and Louisiana (including a 100-year levee protection plan for New Orleans), $3.6 billion for wetland restoration and flood prevention in Louisiana, and almost $2 billion for restoration of the Florida Everglades, along with hundreds of other restorative and protective water plan measures.

The bill easily passed by a vote of 81-12 in the Senate, a veto-proof margin.

Though the President’s vetoes have received a great deal of press recently, he has actually vetoed fewer bills than any President since James Garfield, who was assassinated after only six months in office.