Overall, the House agreed to override 133 of the governor's 149 line-item vetoes in the state budget and override all 14 from a separate spending bill.
"I believe members made a judgment call on each veto and that each one stood or fell on its merits," said House Ways and Means Chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston. "I also believe that the House spoke very clearly that South Carolina's priorities are education, economic development, law enforcement and health care."
Just 16 vetoes, or about $1.6 million, were sustained.
The Senate briefly addressed the vetoes sent over from the House and agreed to tackle them with full force on Thursday.
Sanford asked lawmakers to return state money borrowed from trust funds in years past before spending money on new projects. His vetoes cut about $70 million from the $5.8 billion state budget. Sanford also vetoed about $26 million from a separate $73 million bill.
Most of that money was restored to the budget for projects ranging from $200,000 for the state's poison control center to $1.5 million for deferred maintenance at South Carolina State University.
Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia, said the governor said he was going after pork but ended up cutting helpful programs like the poison control center.
"He's was trying to get a number and he was less concerned about identifying real pork," Smith said.
House Minority Leader Harry Ott, D-St. Matthews, agreed, saying Sanford didn't balance the needs of the citizens with his quest to restore money to the trust funds.
"We felt like we had a good budget going in, we felt comfortable with our budget all through the process, and I believe that our idea of balance came through," Ott said.
If Sanford's vetoes were sustained and if that money were used to repay those accounts, the state would still have $226 million left to be repaid.
A call to the governor's office was not immediately returned.
There may be another chance to override a few vetoes that were sacrificed for the sake of politics. The House sustained vetoes for two $100,000 deferred maintenance project at Midlands Technical College and York Technical College after Rep. Nathan Ballentine, R-Irmo; Rep. Nikki Haley, R-Lexington; and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill, consistently voted on the side of the governor.
"I believe people who had consistently voted to sustain the governor's vetoes - when it came to a project that was perceived to be a local project to them, the body felt like it was only fair to sustain the veto for them," Ott said.
"I hope tomorrow we will do the right thing and do the right thing for Midlands and for York Tech," he said.
Harrell called the situation "unfortunate" and predicted the House would reconsider those vetoes before wrestling with the remaining bills before the session ends June 2.
"I think we've got the ability to work hard and put in whatever hours are necessary to take care of anything that may come over from the Senate at this point," Ott said.