Post by tigergirl on Aug 1, 2007 20:03:23 GMT -6
White House threatens to veto water bill
Posted by Washington bureau August 01, 2007 1:38PM
By Bill Walsh
Washington bureau
WASHINGTON - In a major blow to Louisiana, President Bush threatened Wednesday to veto long-awaited legislation with billions of dollars to shore up hurricane protection along the Gulf Coast.
House and Senate negotiators struck a bargain late last week on a $21 billion reauthorization of the Water Resources Development Act and it is expected to come to a vote before lawmakers leave for the month-long August recess.
But the Office of Management and Budget sent a letter to Capitol Hill on Wednesday saying that the price tag is too high and shifted too much of the cost of new projects from local governments and onto federal taxpayers.
"This is not how most Americans would expect their representatives in Washington to reach agreement, especially when it is their tax dollars that are being spent," OMB Director Rob Portman and John Paul Woodley, the assistant army secretary over the Corps of Engineers wrote.
Among other things, the bill would authorize a 72-mile system of hurricane protection of levees and floodwalls to shield Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes from storms sweeping in from the Gulf of Mexico. It also would streamline project approvals within the Army Corps of Engineers, provide enhanced hurricane protection levees for New Orleans and green-lighted coastal restoration projects.
"I am stunned by the President's WRDA veto threat. And I have one basic response - I will enthusiastically work to override his veto," said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., in an unusually harsh rebuke to the leader of his own party. "Considering the well-publicized criticism of the way the administration handled this (Hurricane Katrina) disaster, I'm stunned. I'm afraid the promise the president made to the nation in Jackson Square comes across as hollow today."
It was no surprise that Bush had concerns about both the House and Senate bills. The White House had issued strongly worded criticisms of each earlier this spring, but in each case had stopped short of threatening to veto the bill.
Posted by Washington bureau August 01, 2007 1:38PM
By Bill Walsh
Washington bureau
WASHINGTON - In a major blow to Louisiana, President Bush threatened Wednesday to veto long-awaited legislation with billions of dollars to shore up hurricane protection along the Gulf Coast.
House and Senate negotiators struck a bargain late last week on a $21 billion reauthorization of the Water Resources Development Act and it is expected to come to a vote before lawmakers leave for the month-long August recess.
But the Office of Management and Budget sent a letter to Capitol Hill on Wednesday saying that the price tag is too high and shifted too much of the cost of new projects from local governments and onto federal taxpayers.
"This is not how most Americans would expect their representatives in Washington to reach agreement, especially when it is their tax dollars that are being spent," OMB Director Rob Portman and John Paul Woodley, the assistant army secretary over the Corps of Engineers wrote.
Among other things, the bill would authorize a 72-mile system of hurricane protection of levees and floodwalls to shield Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes from storms sweeping in from the Gulf of Mexico. It also would streamline project approvals within the Army Corps of Engineers, provide enhanced hurricane protection levees for New Orleans and green-lighted coastal restoration projects.
"I am stunned by the President's WRDA veto threat. And I have one basic response - I will enthusiastically work to override his veto," said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., in an unusually harsh rebuke to the leader of his own party. "Considering the well-publicized criticism of the way the administration handled this (Hurricane Katrina) disaster, I'm stunned. I'm afraid the promise the president made to the nation in Jackson Square comes across as hollow today."
It was no surprise that Bush had concerns about both the House and Senate bills. The White House had issued strongly worded criticisms of each earlier this spring, but in each case had stopped short of threatening to veto the bill.
