Senate votes to restore Dyess funding, other
projects
By JIM O'CONNELL / Scripps Howard News Service
WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Thursday voted to restore money
to 34 military construction projects, including a $10 million
building at Dyess Air Force Base, that were vetoed by President
Clinton.
The Senate's 69-30 vote is the first step in a long-shot bid
to reverse Clinton's veto and represents Congress' first attempt
to overcome the line-item veto authority it granted Clinton in
January.
"The president is wrong, he did not have the facts straight,"
said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. "These projects
are very important for military readiness."
Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, voted against restoring the construction
funds.
A Gramm spokesman said the senator fought for granting the
president the line-item veto and wanted to support it during its
first challenge.
In his veto message Oct. 6, Clinton said he eliminated projects
that would not improve the quality of life of military service
members and did not have enough design work completed to begin
construction next year. The veto saved $287 million in the 1998
budget year, he said.
But Clinton has since conceded that at least a dozen of the
projects were vetoed based on inaccurate data provided by the
Department of Defense. The White House is "committed to restoring
funding for those projects," according to a statement released
Thursday. It did not identify which projects were targeted in
error.
While the White House is willing to restore money to some projects,
Clinton has threatened to veto the Senate's attempt to restore
money to all the projects.
Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Abilene, has said he has been assured
that the Dyess project is among the dozen or so projects on which
Clinton admits an error and is willing to restore funds.
The Dyess project would build a 55,300-square-foot headquarters
building to accommodate 400 airmen and 12 B-1 bombers that are
to arrive in 2000 as part of the reactivated 13th Squadron.
Funding for the project was initially scheduled for 2002, but
base lobbyists persuaded Congress to accelerate the schedule so
the facility could be ready when the 13th Squadron arrives.
Stenholm has argued that funding for the project must be included
in the 1998 or 1999 budget for the project to by completed in
time.
The Senate action is the first step in what promises to be
a long road to restoring the funding.
If the House approves duplicate legislation, it will be submitted
to Clinton, who will certainly veto it. Overriding the veto would
require a two-thirds vote in each chamber.
The Senate produced more than enough votes to override a veto
Thursday.
Some senators defended Clinton's action. Sen. Chuck Robb, D-Va.,
said Congress gave Clinton the line-item veto in January and cannot
blame him now for using it.
Sen. Ted Steven, R-Alaska, said that while he supported granting
Clinton the line-item veto he will challenge it in court as unconstitutional
if the military construction projects are not restored.
The line-item veto authority is already being challenged in
federal court by at least three groups angry about Clinton's use
of the veto on other spending bills.
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