TheState.com - Some S.C. Views on Water Act are Murky

News Article

TheState.com - Some S.C. Views on Water Act are Murky

By JAMES ROSEN

Rep. Joe Wilson voted for it before he voted against it.

Rep. Gresham Barrett voted against it — three times — then said he was glad to see it become law.

Sen. Jim DeMint branded it a shameful example of pork-barrel spending, but Sen. Lindsey Graham said it was crucial to South Carolina's infrastructure.

The Water Resources Development Act of 2007 will be recorded as the first measure to be enacted by Congress over President Bush's veto.

Before those veto-override votes in the House and Senate last week, the bill twisted the S.C. congressional delegation into a pretzel and revealed rifts among its six Republican members.

Nationwide, the measure authorizes $23.2 billion for 900 projects. The big-ticket items in South Carolina are Rep. Jim Clyburn's $60 million initiative to provide cleaner drinking water for Lake Marion-area residents and Rep. John Spratt's $25 million effort to mitigate flooding near the Lake Wallace reservoir in Marlboro County.

"We can no longer afford to ignore the infrastructure needs of our nation until we suffer the dire consequences when they fail us," Clyburn, a Columbia Democrat and the House majority whip, said after the House voted 361-54 to override Bush's fifth veto.

Clyburn praised the water legislation as "an investment in our nation's health, environment and quality of life."

Things were murkier on the GOP side of the aisle, at least among S.C. lawmakers.

Wilson joined 40 other House Republicans in their failed bid to sustain Bush's veto. But three months earlier, when the House voted on the water legislation before it went to the White House, Wilson had supported it.

The fourth-term lawmaker from Lexington didn't "mean to be confusing," spokesman Ryan Murphy said.

Murphy's explanation was that Wilson had voted for the bill Aug. 1 to rush it to Bush's desk for a veto stamp.

Barrett, a third-term Republican from Westminster, was more consistent. He voted against the water legislation three times, most recently Nov. 6, when he backed Bush's veto.

Two days later, though, he issued a release praising the measure's enactment into law.

"I am pleased to see that HR 1495, the Water Resources Development Act of 2007, will become law, and that the Lake Russell project included in the bill may launch successfully," Barrett said.

Under the bill, the federal government will convey to the state about 650 acres around Lake Russell in Abbeville County with the goal of selling it to a developer to build a hotel, conference center, marina and homes near Calhoun Falls.

Rep. Henry Brown, whose 1st District spans most of the S.C. coastline, was the state's only Republican representative to vote for the water measure — all three times, that is.

"Beach renourishment is important," Brown, a Hanahan resident in his fourth term, said. "Dredging for the port of Charleston to be nationally competitive is important. Keeping our intercoastal waterways open is important. Keeping storm-water runoff from our beaches is critical."

Sens. DeMint and Graham split on the legislation.

"Congress still hasn't learned its lesson. Americans want us to stop the flood of runaway spending and stop wasteful earmarks for pet projects," DeMint said.

Graham, though, said the legislation is important for the state.

"There are some things in there for South Carolina that are long overdue," Graham said.

Source