A year after Democrats won control of Capitol Hill, Congress delivered its clearest victory yet over President Bush yesterday, resoundingly overturning his veto of a $23 billion water resources measure -- the first veto override of Bush's presidency.Is this the beginning of a trend, as incumbent Republicans recognize their affiliation with the President this time around may be more of a hindrance than a help.
The 79 to 14 vote in the Senate was followed last night by final passage of a huge, $151 billion health, education and labor spending bill. House and Senate negotiators also reached agreement on a transportation and housing bill that increases spending on highway repair in the wake of the Minneapolis bridge collapse and boosts foreclosure assistance in the midst of a housing crisis.
The new majority has been accused of not challenging the status quo enough, but with this latest override and an agreement on transportation funding, that should change. Now they will be able to negotiate from strength Iraqi war funding:
the House unveiled a four-month, $50 billion Iraq war-funding bill that would give the president 60 days to present a plan to complete U.S. troop withdrawals by Dec. 15, 2008. The measure would limit the troops' mission to counterterrorism and the training of Iraqi forces and would extend a torture ban to the CIA.Election year or not, the Left is calling the Right out, as a good Majority part should.
The President may be a lame duck, but there is a swarm of Republican Legislators who would like to be re-hired by their constituencies again. As the session progresses, we will see where their true loyalties lie.
Game on!
Flash
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