Senate Overrides Bush Veto, Enacts Water Bill

November 8, 2007 · Filed Under Politics, U.S. News

The Senate voted overwhelmingly today for a popular $23 billion water projects measure affecting locales across the country, thereby handing President Bush his first defeat in a veto showdown with Congress.

The vote was 79 to 14, far more than the two-thirds needed to override the veto that President Bush cast last Friday. Only 12 Republicans voted against the measure, and just two Democrats, Senators Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

Enactment of the water projects measure had been widely expected, despite the veto, given the importance of the bill to individual districts and, of course, the lawmakers that represent them. The measure embraces huge endeavors like restoration of the Florida Everglades and relief to hurricane-stricken communities along the Gulf Coast and smaller ones like sewage-treatment plants, dams and beach protection that are important to smaller constituencies.