Dana Milbank over at the Washington Post notes the override of the President's water projects veto by Congress. President Bush had vetoed the massively porked-up bill but the legislators were not about to let their earmarks go. The pork is strong in this one, eh, Luke?
The levies couldn't hold.
Ten minutes after noon yesterday, the floodgates burst on the Senate floor, and the dams crumbled. Billions of dollars for public-works projects poured forth. For the first time in the Bush presidency, Congress had overridden a veto.
The legislature has proved impotent in its efforts to challenge President Bush on such matters as the Iraq war and the waterboarding of prisoners. But the president learned an important lesson yesterday: Don't mess with lawmakers' pet projects.
Bush vetoed a $23 billion bill for water projects after the White House determined that it was "unacceptable" to the nation's finances. Yesterday, the Senate, following the House, told Bush just what was acceptable, voting 79 to 14 to override the veto. If anything, the opposition to Bush was even greater than the margin suggests; not a single senator came to the floor during yesterday's debate to defend Bush's veto.
Milbank uses the article to take a lot of shots at Republicans (and a few Democrats) who voted for the override, but this is and always has been, a bi-partisan problem in Washington. Being against pork should be one of the things people should be able to agree on regardless of political affiliation. It is a massive misuse of Federal power – and our tax money, period. The bill amounts to nearly $77 in taxes for every man, woman and child in the United States. Think about that.
Funny how the only thing that seems to be able to joyfully unite lawmakers is nothing any of them should be proud of, isn't it?
