Despite the bipartisan goodwill and declarations of the importance of the Everglades, the region still remains in danger. Political maneuvering continues to impede CERP: sugar lobbyists promoted a bill in the Florida legislature in 2003 that increased the acceptable amount of phosphorus in Everglades waterways from 10 ppb to 15 ppb and extended the deadline for the mandated decrease by 20 years.[79] A compromise of 2016 was eventually reached. Environmental organizations express concern that attempts to speed up some of the construction through Acceler8 are politically motivated; the six projects Acceler8 focuses on do not provide more water to natural areas in desperate need of it, but rather to projects in populated areas bordering the Everglades, suggesting that water is being diverted to make room for more people in an already overtaxed environment.[80] Though Congress promised half the funds for restoration, after the War in Iraq began and two of CERP's major supporters in Congress retired, the federal role in CERP was left unfulfilled. According to a story in The New York Times, state officials say the restoration is lost in a maze of "federal bureaucracy, a victim of 'analysis paralysis' ".[81] In 2007, the release of $2 billion for Everglades restoration was approved by Congress, overriding President George W. Bush's veto of the entire Water Development Project the money was a part of. Bush's rare veto went against the wishes of Florida Republicans, including his brother, Governor Jeb Bush. A lack of subsequent action by the Congress prompted Governor Charlie Crist to travel to Washington D.C. in February 2008 and inquire about the promised funds.[82] By June 2008, the federal government had spent only $400 million of the $7.8 billion legislated.[83] Carl Hiaasen characterized George W. Bush's attitude toward the environment as "long-standing indifference" in June 2008, exemplified when Bush stated he would not intervene to change the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) policy allowing the release of water polluted with fertilizers and phosphorus into the Everglades.[84]