The Senate is set to vote Thursday on what promises to be the first override of a veto by President Bush, with members expected to authorize $23 billion in new water projects over the president's objections.
Supporters say the projects authorized under the Water Resources Development Act are necessary to rebuild the Gulf Coast after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, restore the Everglades and Great Lakes fisheries and build flood-control projects nationwide.
The bill passed Congress by overwhelming margins, and a leading conservative senator called Bush's veto "an exercise in futility" Wednesday.
"I urge, as much as I hate to do this, my colleagues on the Republican side to join me in overriding the president's veto on this very important bill," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma.
Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the authorization bill is "the only discipline that we have for spending," since it sets the amount to be spent on each project.
Bush spiked the measure Friday despite its overwhelming bipartisan support, calling it too costly and complaining that the 900 projects it authorized would overtax the Army Corps of Engineers.
But the House of Representatives passed it again Tuesday on a 361-54 vote -- well beyond the two-thirds margin needed for an override -- and the White House said it was resigned to seeing the bill become law. See a chart of recent and historical vetoes »
No senator spoke in favor of sustaining Bush's veto during Wednesday afternoon's debate.
The bill has been a "team effort" with overwhelming support on both sides, said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana.
"I don't know why the president chose this bill to try ...