President Reagan’s Veto of the Clean Water Act
The President’s pocket veto was reprehensible. He was quoted as saying the bill “far exceeded acceptable levels of budget commitment . . . and it is now necessary for the federal government to reduce its expenditures and complete the transition from federal to state and local responsibility.”
On the contrary, this is a national concern like acid rain and toxic waste where state and international boundaries become artificial dividers. Look at the problem we have in San Diego County with sewage from Tijuana.
This election reflected a growing lack of faith with the President’s lopsided agenda for grandiose military outlays at the expense of domestic needs of greatest priority.
Quoting David Baker of Friends of the Earth in The Times (Nov. 7), “It was bad public policy decisions such as this one that has cost Ronald Reagan the Senate. His political stupidity would be amusing if the public health wasn’t the victim of this blunder.”
ROBERT STEVENS
Del Mar
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