©2026 League of Conservation Voters
1978 Scorecard Vote
223
190
20
Issues
The vote is on whether to override the President’s veto of this same Public Works Appropriations bill, H.R. 12928. Not only did the bill provide funding for the most disastrous water projects in the nation, but it made a mockery of the Carter Administration’s efforts to reform water policy decision-making by its own agencies. The bill forced the expansion of the federal bureaucracy by mandating the addition of 2,300 new employees in the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. Yet it abolished the Water Resources Council, the President’s tool for implementing his water policy reforms and trying to get a more rational evaluation of proposed new projects. The bill funded 53 new construction starts for water projects, including 27 that were opposed by the President. The bill continued funding for such giant water disasters as the Garrison Diversion in North Dakota, the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in Mississippi and Alabama, the Dickey Lincoln Dam in Maine, and the Central Arizona Project. Altogether the bill appropriated over $3.5 billion for water development. Both environmentalists and the Carter Administration lobbied hard to sustain this veto and this is one of the most important votes of the year. Veto sustained 223-190. (A two thirds vote is required to override.) It was the first time in modern history that a public works bill veto was sustained. October 5, 1978. NO is the correct vote.
©2026 League of Conservation Voters