Bush vetoes water projects bill despite likelihood of override

WASHINGTON – An increasingly confrontational President Bush on Friday vetoed a bill authorizing hundreds of popular water projects even though lawmakers can count enough votes to override him.

Bush brushed aside significant objections from Capitol Hill, even from Republicans, in vetoing legislation that provides $23 billion for projects like repairing hurricane damage, restoring wetlands and preventing flooding in communities across the nation.

It appears certain Bush will have his veto overridden for the first time in his presidency. The bill passed in both chambers of Congress by well more than the two-thirds majority needed to override Bush’s decision and make the measure law.

“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 Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

“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,” Reid said.

Bush objected to $9 billion in projects added during negotiations between the House and Senate. He hoped that his action, even though it is sure not to hold, would cast him as a friend to conservatives who demand a tighter rein on federal spending.

Bush never vetoed spending bills under the Republican Congress despite budgetary increases then, too. Attempting to demonstrate fiscal toughness in the seventh year of his presidency, Bush risked being criticized for doing too little, too late and of waging a transparently partisan attack against the Democrats who now run Capitol Hill.

The president took the gamble, though without any public fanfare, as part of a broader effort to take on Democratic leaders frequently and more pointedly.

It was Bush’s fifth veto. Four of those have come since Democrats took over Congress in January.

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, pledged to work to override the veto. “We are facing a water infrastructure crisis, and our national investment in water resources has not kept pace with our level of economic expansion,” Voinovich said.

Maine’s Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe and Democratic Rep. Tom Allen were united in their opposition to Bush’s veto. “The president’s decision to veto the Water Resources Development Act, a bill that passed with vast bicameral bipartisan support, is a profound disappointment,” said Snowe and Collins in a joint statement.