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Several Senate Republicans said Thursday they would join Democrats to override a White House veto on $38 billion homeland security appropriations legislation, signaling the first major break with President Bush over his vow to reject spending bills that exceed his proposed levels. The announcement came as a result of the Senate’s overwhelming approval of a $3 billion amendment to beef up security along the U.S.-Mexico border. Republicans see the money as a crucial step towards solving illegal immigration and a way to rally around an issue that has split their caucus and roiled their conservative base. Several Republican senators said yesterday they would urge Bush to drop his veto threat. If not, they predicted the Senate would have the 67 votes needed to override a veto. “I think this is an area where the Congress is going to have to lead,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a Bush loyalist, who predicted the bill would pass with a “veto-proof” margin. “I’m hopeful the administration will understand that this kind of spending is as necessary as spending in Iraq,” a sponsor of the border security amendment, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), said. “It’s about national security,” the Budget Committee’s ranking member, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), said of the underlying bill, which would provide fiscal 2008 funding for the Department of Homeland Security. “Most Republicans are for national security and border security.” The border security amendment, approved by an 89-1 vote, came after Republicans dropped authorizing language that would have empowered state and local officials to enforce federal immigration laws and imposed tougher rules against immigrants overstaying their visas. The language sparked a renewed partisan spat over border security and immigration reform on Wednesday. But after Republicans agreed to drop the language, the two sides came together on Thursday, but it was unclear at press time when the Senate would move to a final vote. As he has with several other appropriations bills, Bush has threatened to veto the measure for exceeding the spending levels in his proposal. The measure is almost $200 million more than the plan the House passed, and exceeds Bush’s request by $2.3 billion. The House fell short of a veto-proof majority when it passed its bill last month. House Republicans have signaled that they would sustain a veto on any spending bill the president refuses to sign. But that unity has so far eluded the Senate GOP conference. “All spending bills are not alike,” Cornyn said. |
