Congress Overrides Bush Veto
Just as soon as I got done lamenting the fact that Congress--more specifically, the Democrats--can't get anything done, they accomplish something extremely difficult, and which has so far not been done to George W. Bush; they overrode his veto.
The vote was on a Bill to authorize $23 billion in improvements to the nation's water-related infrastructure. Bush apparently opposed it because he felt it contained too many unnecesary projects. That's a fair enough reason to oppose it, I guess, but given that the projects involved repairs to levees, dams, beaches, and sewage systems--as well as money for hurricane damaged areas in the Gulf Coast--I would be curious to see exactly which ones he considered unnecesary. The override vote was reportedly 351 to 54 in the House, and 79-14 in the Senate, meaning a serious load of Republicans joined in.
I'm not well-informed enough to expound at length on the possible ramifications of this, and I'm not optimistic enough to hope this means Congress can get other bills passed a veto. However, this can't be seen as anything other than a positive sign. At least it means there are some things the Republicans and Democrats can agree on, and that the president is not infallible when it comes to the legislative system. For once in the past seven years, it seems the old "checks and balances" system has actually kept the President in check.
The vote was on a Bill to authorize $23 billion in improvements to the nation's water-related infrastructure. Bush apparently opposed it because he felt it contained too many unnecesary projects. That's a fair enough reason to oppose it, I guess, but given that the projects involved repairs to levees, dams, beaches, and sewage systems--as well as money for hurricane damaged areas in the Gulf Coast--I would be curious to see exactly which ones he considered unnecesary. The override vote was reportedly 351 to 54 in the House, and 79-14 in the Senate, meaning a serious load of Republicans joined in.
I'm not well-informed enough to expound at length on the possible ramifications of this, and I'm not optimistic enough to hope this means Congress can get other bills passed a veto. However, this can't be seen as anything other than a positive sign. At least it means there are some things the Republicans and Democrats can agree on, and that the president is not infallible when it comes to the legislative system. For once in the past seven years, it seems the old "checks and balances" system has actually kept the President in check.
Comments