Won over by $8 billion in earmarks, dozens of House Republicans joined hands with Democrats on Tuesday to overturn President Bush’s veto of a $23 billion water-resources bill. The vote was 361-54.
The Senate is expected to follow suit today, which would mark the first time Congress has voted to override a veto by the president. The Senate vote would pave the way for the bill to become law.
The bill would authorize the Army Corps of Engineers to undertake projects relating to navigation, flood control and environmental restoration.
When originallypassed by the House and Senate, the legislation authorized about $15 billion in spending. Then lawmakers met in conference to settle the differences between the House and Senate versions and, as congressional wags remarked, “compromised” on $23 billion. The additional $8 billion will fund 19 more water projects.
Proponents of the bill said the additional spending was for vital projects. For example, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., inserted an earmark that directs $685 million for flood control on the Santa Ana River.
The bill, Boxer said, “provides critical flood protection” for California.
Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., defended the bill, saying he told Bush he would vote to override the veto in part because water projects are important to his state.
“All earmarks are not the same,” he said. “There are legitimate cases.”
But critics said the bill exemplified the willingness of lawmakers in both parties to approve pork-barrel spending for projects that have not been properly reviewed.
“This is in the category of bills where the wealth is spread around sufficiently to give a whole lot of lawmakers a vested interest in passing it,” said Peter Sepp, vice president of the National Taxpayers Union, a watchdog group.
Lawmakers tried to hide behind parliamentary semantics, arguing that the bill is merely an authorizing measure to provide guidance to the appropriations committees about the appropriate level of funding.
“It doesn’t really spend any money,” said House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who added there is “a difference of opinion” among Republicans over the bill.
GOP support of the earmarks was especially aggravating to watchdog groups like Sepp’s.
“This is not the kind of math Republican lawmakers are supposed to be practicing,” Sepp said. “They think that when both parties have mud on their hands,they can’t sling it at each other.”
