The House voted Thursday not to overturn a pair of vetoes by President Donald Trump of legislation on a Colorado water pipeline and a Florida flood control project, despite Congress passing the bills with no objections last month.
The votes were the first attempted veto overrides of the Republican-controlled House, following Trump’s first vetoes of his second term in office.
While Trump acknowledged that his vetoes were for political reasons, most of the House GOP declined to override him.
The Colorado water pipeline bill, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), got 248 votes, short of the 285 two-thirds majority needed for an override. Just 35 Republicans joined all 213 Democrats in voting for it.
“I will continue to fight for Western water. This was a commitment made by President Trump in 2020, and I will continue to fulfill that commitment,” said Boebert.
The Florida bill’s vote was 236 to 188, with 24 Republicans and all 212 Democrats siding against Trump and one Republican voting “present.” That bill needed 284 to override.
Lawmakers in both parties charged that Trump’s unexpected vetoes shortly after Christmas were political retribution for people who had opposed his agenda.
Trump justified his veto of the water pipeline bill by calling Colorado Democrat Jared Polis a “bad governor.” State officials have refused to pardon former Republican election official Tina Peters for her convictions last year related to efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 president election, which Trump lost.
Boebert was also one of a handful of Republicans who voted on legislation to release the Epstein files.
The president accused Florida’s Miccosukee Tribe, which would be allowed under the other bill to carry out construction projects to protect a village from flooding, of trying to obstruct his immigration policies by suing to stop a migrant detention center near their land.
Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
