From LA Times:
WASHINGTON -- President Bush delivered his threatened veto of a $23-billion water bill today, but it is virtually certain to be reversed by Congress in its first override of a Bush veto -- a bipartisan display of how much lawmakers love their pet projects.
The veto comes as Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress move closer to a showdown over spending on the federal budget.
The House and Senate are expected to move swiftly next week to override the veto of the bill, loaded with water projects eagerly sought by members of both parties, including shoring up California's levees and protecting the Gulf Coast from storms.
"This bill lacks fiscal discipline," Bush said in his veto message.
The defiant response to the veto from Republicans as well as Democrats on Capitol Hill underscores the difficulty the president faces in his new zeal to rein in federal spending, especially when it affects lawmakers' cherished projects.
"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.
The water bill authorizes more than 900 projects and programs, such as building new locks on the Mississippi River, restoring the Florida Everglades, upgrading boat ramps in Idaho and restoring oyster habitat in Long Island Sound. The bill authorizes the projects, but the funding must be provided through the appropriations process.
Bush complained that a number of the projects fall outside the core mission of the Corps of Engineers: "facilitating commercial navigation, reducing the risk of damage from floods and storms, and restoring aquatic ecosystems."
WASHINGTON -- President Bush delivered his threatened veto of a $23-billion water bill today, but it is virtually certain to be reversed by Congress in its first override of a Bush veto -- a bipartisan display of how much lawmakers love their pet projects.
The veto comes as Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress move closer to a showdown over spending on the federal budget.
The House and Senate are expected to move swiftly next week to override the veto of the bill, loaded with water projects eagerly sought by members of both parties, including shoring up California's levees and protecting the Gulf Coast from storms.
"This bill lacks fiscal discipline," Bush said in his veto message.
The defiant response to the veto from Republicans as well as Democrats on Capitol Hill underscores the difficulty the president faces in his new zeal to rein in federal spending, especially when it affects lawmakers' cherished projects.
"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.
The water bill authorizes more than 900 projects and programs, such as building new locks on the Mississippi River, restoring the Florida Everglades, upgrading boat ramps in Idaho and restoring oyster habitat in Long Island Sound. The bill authorizes the projects, but the funding must be provided through the appropriations process.
Bush complained that a number of the projects fall outside the core mission of the Corps of Engineers: "facilitating commercial navigation, reducing the risk of damage from floods and storms, and restoring aquatic ecosystems."
While Veto-in-chief says no to water bill, Supreme Leader Cheney's speech got interrupted by war protesters:
DALLAS — Vice President Dick Cheney is defending the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying there's no reasoning with some U.S. adversaries there.
Cheney delivered the remarks Friday in a Dallas speech that was interrupted briefly by protesters in the audience.
One woman wearing a shirt that read "Bring our Troops Home Now" yelled: "Out of Iraq now! Don't attack Iran." She was escorted out by security. Minutes later, another protester stood up and objected to any potential attack on Iran.
He also was led out.
Outside the hotel, at about 100 protesters gathered, holding signs critical of the war and the Bush administration.
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