The 2 Regular Guys take a look at last week's Congressional overide for the first time ever of a veto of President Bush. The power of the presidential veto is pointed out here, as only 5% of vetos have been overidden by a Congressional 2/3rds majorty and it shows even an unpopular president still has much power as Chief Legislator:It has been a long time since we have been able to use the word Congressional override but after this week we better get used to it.
This week our Congress for the first time voted to override a Bush veto. As a lame duck president Bush has threatened there are more vetoes to come. The Democratic leadership welcomes this fight. The stakes are high and it all points toward the 2008 election.
The particulars of this week are simple. The president vetoed the Water Resources Development Act (W.R.D.A.) because of its hefty price tag. Rebuilding the Gulf Coast, restoring the Everglades, reconstructing levees were not in and of themselves disagreeable to the president. He objected to the bottom line, $23 billion dollars.
Sensing bipartisan support, the Democratic leadership saw blood in the water and quickly sought an override. The votes in both houses were overwhelming despite only needing a two-thirds majority. With the Senate vote yesterday to override when combined with the earlier vote in the House, the bill immediately goes into effect.
Do not look for the bulldozers quite yet. The devil, here, may be in the details. This bill does not exactly fund these reconstruction projects. W.R.D.A. authorizes these projects but does not provide any funding. In essence, this bill is like a promise made to buy you something for your birthday next year. Whether or not the purchase is made will depend upon next year. To date Congress has made many of these promises. According to a recent report this Congress has now authorized $81 billion dollars of such projects without appropriating any actual funds. Perhaps this is why this override was so easy to pass.
Do not be fooled by the politically charged words veto and override. This political season is less about action. It is just about words.
VIDEO: CBS 2 School: Congress Overrides Presidential Veto
6 comments:
I would just like to say that the override of the veto is idiotic. It is more politics than governing. The Army Corp of Engineers is dysfunctional, all these extra projects will only make the problem worse; Congress should first worry about fixing the Corp. Bush was right to veto the bill.
It seems like the premise of this bill was purely political. If none of the funds authorized in the bill have been appropriated, than it really doesn't mean anything. At this point, the bill seems to be simply a ploy by the Democrats in Congress to please their voting base. Right now their approval rating is on par with the President's because they have failed to take action and implement any of their own initiatives. But the by passing and eventually overriding the veto of this bill, Congressional Democrats gave themselves something that they can point to as an example of getting something done by going toe to toe with the President and winning. They now have "proof" that they are taking advantage of their majority in Congress. Whether or not the bill was effective, apparently wasn't the issue.
I agree with Carlos and Jeremy. What good is $23 billion if it's just going to sit there where it won't do anybody any good?
As for the deeds vs. words issue, Bush had better watch his step on this veto stuff. I'm not saying he should become a puppet, but the Democrats can-and already do-easily construe any of Bush's actions to make it seem all Republicans are evil (as the Republicans would do if a Democrat was in this position). Word hurt. Big time.
I think that this is a perfect example of politics becoming too partisan. It seems really wrong that Congress is passing bills just to look good to the public (and to make Bush look bad). Jeremy is right - Congress has low approval ratings due to their inability to implement their own initiatives. Congress needs to focus on fixing this problem, rather than focusing on how their party looks compared to another party.
Yeah, as everyone else has already said, this is just pure politics. The idealist in me wishes they could just fix the Army Corp of Engineers, appropriate whatever funds they can afford, and get the projects they can done.
Just a random thought... I wonder if it will ever get to the point, sometime in the distant future, where the public will be so skeptical about political motives that politicians will have to fall over themselves to prove that what they're doing is actually a good idea and will actually work (wouldn't that be nice?). Or maybe that's dumb to even hypothesize...idk just one possibility about how public perception might transform.
I still stand what I said in class about the Army Corp of Engineers being ineffective and inefficient. This bill will not only burden this body, but it will also give empty promises to the people in New Orleans and other Katrina affected places. This bill is completely partisan and political.
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