One expenditure buried in the bill is $2 million for the Navy to repurchase the presidential yacht Sequoia. The yacht was built in 1925 and first used by President Herbert Hoover. In the throes of Watergate, President Richard M. Nixon cruised the Potomac at night on the boat and brooded on his fate.
When President Jimmy Carter was trying to rid the White House of an imperial image, he had the yacht sold to a private group for $286,000. Ever since, it has been rented out for private parties.
Because there was no debate on the matter, there is no way to know whether President Bush wants the yacht and, if so, what he plans to do with it.