House GOP Help Dems Keep Pork

by Amanda Carpenter

posted 11/10/07

A majority of House Republicans crossed party lines to help Democrats override President Bush’s veto of a spending bill that was stuffed with millions worth of pork-barrel projects Tuesday.

President Bush vetoed the $23 billion water resources bill because Congress put too many earmarks into it. During negotiations between the House and the Senate, the bill’s price tag increased dramatically.

The House passed their version of the bill at a cost of $14 billion and the Senate passed theirs at a cost of $15 billion. When the final version of the bill was delivered to the President, after the two chambers conferred, the total cost was $23 billion because of pet projects added in at the last minute.

Some of the original earmarks went towards things like $9.32 million for “beach nourishment” in Lido Key Beach in Sarasota, Florida. Descriptions of the $9 million worth of earmarks added during conference are not readily available to the public. The final House vote to override President Bush’s veto was 361-54. 138 Republicans voted for the override. Eight did not vote.

Click on the following link to see the roll call vote: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll1040.xml

The Senate is expected also override the President’s veto in a vote Wednesday. Their original version of the bill passed 81-12.

Note: The original version of this piece suggested the Lido Key earmark as added to the spending bill during conference. It was not. It passed as a part of the original House bill. Also, it was reported the earmark was worth $63 million, which is what the project will cost over the next 50 years. The spending bill only allotted $9.32 million towards that cost.

Amanda Carpenter is National Political Reporter for Townhall.com.