Colorado is the recipient of Trump’s first veto of his term, used to kill a major clean drinking water bill that would benefit 39 communities on the Eastern Plains between Pueblo and Lamar.
The Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act passed unanimously in the House and Senate, who sent the bill to Trump by voice vote, which suggests there could be wide margins to override the veto — if Republican leadership can muster the fortitude to bring it for a recorded vote.
The Monday veto comes as Trump had promised retaliation for Colorado keeping his election-tampering ally Tina Peters in prison.
Groundwater in the Eastern Plains is high in salt and wells sometimes release radioactive material into the water supply. The AVC Act is the final component of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, which was first approved in 1962.
The pipeline is in Lauren Boebert’s district. Boebert stood up to Trump in the situation room to vote for the release of the Epstein files. Colorado’s Democratic senators have chipped away at the funding gap for a decade, while Boebert sponsored the House bill to finish the project.
Boebert’s statement:
“President Trump decided to veto a completely non-controversial, bipartisan bill that passed both the House and Senate unanimously. If this administration wants to make its legacy blocking projects that deliver water to rural Americans; that’s on them.”
Boebert said she hopes “this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability. Americans deserve leadership that puts people over politics.”