Your correspondent mentions that highway bills are almost veto-proof. I thought that Reagan had vetoed one in 1987. So he did, for a number of reasons, including that it was $10 billion over budget. (“I haven’t seen this much lard since I handed out blue ribbons at the Iowa State Fair.”) But what I didn’t know is that this was the only veto of a highway bill ever, and that Reagan lost the battle: his veto was overridden, even though he “begged” 13 Republican senators to switch. He had already been weakened by Iran-contra.