It may be overridden.
Bush vetoes $23-billion water bill
Congress is expected to override the president next week in a bipartisan vote.
By Richard Simon
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 3, 2007
WASHINGTON — President Bush delivered his threatened veto of a $23-billion water bill Friday, but Congress is virtually certain to reverse it in the first override of a Bush veto.
And Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress are moving closer to a federal budget showdown that could result in more vetoes.
The House and Senate are expected to move swiftly next week to override Bush's veto of a bill loaded with water-related projects sought by members of both parties, from shoring up California's levees to protecting the Gulf Coast from hurricanes.
In a statement accompanying his veto, Bush said, "This bill lacks fiscal discipline."
On Capitol Hill, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said, "I am 100% confident that we can override this veto."
The defiant bipartisan response to the veto underscores the difficulty the president faces in his new zeal to hold down federal spending, especially when it affects highly visible construction projects cherished by lawmakers.
"This will be the first veto this Congress has overridden, and it was all about getting parochial water projects back to their home districts," said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group.
The bill would authorize more than 900 projects, such as restoration in the Florida Everglades and the replacement of seven Depression-era locks on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers that farm groups say is crucial for shipping grain.
For California, the bill authorizes $1.3 billion for 54 projects, including $106 million to strengthen the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta levees, $25 million for revitalizing the concrete-bound Los Angeles River and $38 million for replenishing sand at Imperial Beach in San Diego County, a project that supporters say would protect coastal residents from storms.
