Congress Spends Your Dam Money

The House has passed a water projects bill backers have been wanting for seven years. The original plan had the House spending $14 billion and the Senate spending a billion more in it's bill. They compromised -- and decided to round it up to $20 billion. From USA Today:

"This year's bill includes some $3.5 billion for Katrina-damaged Louisiana, plus more than $2 billion for projects in California and $2 billion for Florida, mostly for restoring the Everglades. Another $1.95 billion is included for seven new locks on the upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers and $1.7 billion for repairing the region's ecology."

President Bush has promised a veto -- but political polar opposites Sen Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sen James Inhofe (R-OK) -- have teamed up to promise gaining enough votes in both chambers to override any veto. (USAToday)