Bush vetoes waterway bill

Bush vetoes waterway bill President Bush has vetoed the $23 billion Water Resources Development Act of 2007, which authorized hundreds of projects including new locks and dams for improved navigation on the inland waterways and harbor deepening projects.
   But proponents of the legislation believe they have the votes to override the veto.
   Bush said he was vetoing the bill because it “lacks fiscal discipline.
   “I fully support funding for water resources projects that will yield high economic and environmental returns to the nation, and each year my budget has proposed reasonable and responsible funding, including $4.9 billion for 2008, to support the Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) main missions,” Bush said.
   “However, this authorization bill makes promises to local communities that the Congress does not have a track record of keeping. The House of Representatives took a $15 billion bill into negotiations with a $14 billion bill from the Senate and instead of splitting the difference, emerged with a Washington compromise that costs over $23 billion,” Bush said. “This is not fiscally responsible, particularly when local communities have been waiting for funding for projects already in the pipeline. The bill’s excessive authorization for over 900 projects and programs exacerbates the massive backlog of ongoing Corps construction projects, which will require an additional $38 billion in future appropriations to complete.”
   He complained that the bill “does not set priorities. The authorization and funding of federal water resources projects should be focused on those projects with the greatest merit that are also a Federal responsibility.”
   “This bill promises hundreds of earmarks and hinders the Corps’ ability to fulfill the nation’s critical water resources needs — including hurricane protection for greater New Orleans, flood damage reduction for Sacramento, and restoration of the Everglades while diverting resources from the significant investments needed to maintain existing federal water infrastructure. American taxpayers should not be asked to support a pork-barrel system of federal authorization and funding where a project’s merit is an afterthought,” he said.
   Sen. Barbara Boxer said “we are already working across party lines in the Congress to override this ill-advised veto.”
   The American Association of Port Authorities has encouraged ports to “relay to their members of Congress their support for the override.”
   The American Waterways Operators have also urged members to contact legislators to override the bill.
   The American Soybean Association also called for an override of the veto, saying it “provides much-needed improvements to waterways that are vital to the transport of U.S. soybeans.
   “Soybean growers appreciate the bipartisan efforts of Congress to pass this legislation and urge members to take the final step needed so America’s waterways will receive long-overdue improvements,” said ASA President John Hoffman, a soybean grower from Waterloo, Iowa. “More than 75 percent of U.S. soybean exports move to world ports through the Upper Mississippi and Illinois river systems, so WRDA is key to soybean growers.”