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Congress overrides President's veto of Water Bill
By Jennifer Bremer There is still hope for improvements on seven locks on the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois River, which would help Midwestern farmers transport their grain to other locations for export, according to the National Corn Growers Association. On Nov. 2, President George Bush vetoed the Water Resources Development Act. This river transportation bill would authorize seven 1,200-foot locks on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. On Nov. 6, members of the House of Representatives acted quickly to override President Bush's veto. The House vote was 361 to 54 and 18 members were not present to vote. On Nov. 8, members of the Senate voted to override the veto with a 79 to 14 victory. "This is great! We have worked so hard and so long to get improvements on the Upper Mississippi River System authorized," said Ron Litterer, president of NCGA and a corn grower from Greene, Iowa. "When it comes to this issue, nothing has been easy," said Litterer. "After almost two decades of work by corn growers, millions of dollars spent on studies, seven years of waiting on the legislative process, a presidential veto and then a veto override by the U.S. Congress, we finally have achieved authorization to modernize seven locks on the Upper Mississippi River System. Once again, our grower members demonstrated their influence and commitment to the Water Resources Development Act by contacting their members of Congress and urging them to overturn the president's veto." Lawmakers from both parties stressed that Bush was misguided in trying to kill the bill. Senator Chuck Grassley, R-IA, said, "The Water Resources Development Act contains necessary improvements to ensure our agriculture producers and manufacturers are able to compete in a global market in the future. I've seen the investment that Brazil is putting into its infrastructure on the Amazon River. We're learning that unless we update the infrastructure on our own rivers, we're going to see higher and higher input costs and fewer and fewer markets for our commodities." On Aug. 1, the House passed the conference report by a resounding 381-40. The Senate overwhelming passed the report by a vote of 81-12. A two-thirds vote in each chamber was required to override the veto. The WRDA bill not only helps to deliver crops to the global marketplace, but it also addresses issues such as environmental restoration, port modernization, flood control, hurricane protection, water supply, irrigation and beach nourishment and recreation. According to Litterer, America's inland navigation system plays a critical role in the economy, moving more than one billion tons of domestic commerce valued at more than $300 billion. More than one billion bushels of grain--which is approximately 60 percent of all grain exports--move to export markets via the inland waterways each year, accounting for $8.5 billion in exports. The few critics pointed out that the Army Corps now has a backlog of $58 billion worth of projects and an annual budget of only about $2 billion to address them. "We simply can't continue to add to the backlog of projects that are already out there," said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-AZ. The bill, the first water system restoration and flood control authorization passed by Congress since 2000, would cost $11.2 billion over the next four years and $12 billion in the 10 years after that, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It would authorize the construction of navigation improvements for the Upper Mississippi River, at an estimated federal cost of $1.9 billion, and an ecosystem restoration project for the Upper Mississippi costing $1.7 billion. "This is a great day for the future of flood protection, super-efficient port and river transportation, and environmental restoration," said Sen. Kit Bond, R-MO. "This success would not have been possible without the broad-based coalition of industry, labor and agriculture led by the corn growers who had the vision and patience to achieve victory." "For continued success, U.S. farmers need efficient transportation networks, which is why corn growers have been long-time advocates for improvements to our inland waterway system," said Litterer. "As with our highways and interchanges, the purpose of modernization on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers is to make the entire system more efficient." Associated Press reports contributed to this story. Jennifer Bremer can be reached by phone at 515-833-2120 or by e-mail at jbremermaj@hotmail.com. Date: 11/8/07
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