Broun vocal, but didn't vote, in opposing aid for states

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, the Republican from Athens, seemed hopping mad.

The U.S. House was called back to Washington on Tuesday for a special session to vote on a $26 billion federal aid package to help states pay for Medicaid benefits and salaries for government workers -- teachers, firefighters and other public employees. Georgia could get about $550 million in federal aid through the legislation.

Like almost every other congressional Republican, Broun was against the legislation, and he wanted the world to know it.

"The American people have rejected more bailouts and big-government stimulus projects," he said in a terse statement announcing his opposition. "It’s past time for Washington to listen to the people.”

Broun may have listened, but he didn't vote.

He was one of 25 House members who didn't show up for Tuesday's vote. Republican Reps. Phil Gingrey of Marietta and John Linder of Lawrenceville also were no-shows, although Broun was the only one of the three Georgia absentees who issued a statement declaring his opposition and chastising the idea without actually voting on it.

"Due to previously scheduled commitments, Dr. Broun was unable to return to Washington, D.C., to cast his vote in opposition to the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act," Broun spokesman Jessica Morris said in an e-mail when asked about the absence of her boss, a former physician.

Exactly where Broun was is unclear. Morris did not respond to requests asking where her boss was during the vote.

It's not that Broun and the other Georgia congressmen's votes would have mattered much anyway: The legislation passed 247-161.

IN WATER WARS, WORDS FLY BETWEEN SENATORS

At least for now, it looks like the still turbulent tri-state water wars have turned into a two-state letter-writing campaign.

Just before leaving Washington for the August break, Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson wrote the leaders of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, urging them to "take all options into account" as they develop a new water control manual for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin.

The Corps-controlled watershed, which includes Lake Lanier and provides drinking water for metro Atlanta, is at the center of a lawsuit between Georgia, Alabama and Florida. In July 2009, a federal judge gave the states three years to reach an agreement on the use of Lake Lanier. If not, Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson ruled, Atlanta would be forced to reduce its withdrawals from the lake to 1970s levels.

Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, also a Republican, got wind of the letter from the two Georgia senators. He responded by accusing Isakson and Chambliss of trying to do an end run around Magnuson's decision, and he cautioned Corps commanders to stay out of the fight.

"The unspoken premise of the letter from the Georgia senators is that the Corps can somehow develop a solution to the tri-state water controversy," Shelby wrote in his later dated last Monday. "We strongly disagree with that notion.

"Any effort by the Corps at this point to inject itself into the controversy with a proposed resolution will be counterproductive," Shelby added.

MR. THURMOND COMES TO WASHINGTON

Georgia Labor Commissioner and Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Michael Thurmond was back in Washington on Tuesday, a place where he'd like to spend a lot more time.

Acknowledging he faces a tough race beating Isakson, a well-liked incumbent Republican, I asked Thurmond why he didn't pick an easier contest -- like say, for a U.S. House seat -- in his quest to get to the nation's capital.

"Yeah, I could have picked something easier," he replied. "But why pick something easier when you can pick something with the most impact?"

And what if he loses? I asked Thurmond.

"I'll keep trying."