WASHINGTON — The House shut down efforts to override a pair of vetoes issued by President Donald Trump at the end of last year, dealing a blow to a handful of Colorado Republicans who sought to salvage a bipartisan water bill.
Lawmakers voted 249-179 to override a presidential veto on a Colorado water project, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to reverse Trump’s decision..
Three members of Utah’s House delegation — Utah Reps. Blake Moore, Burgess Owens, and Celeste Maloy — bucked party lines to vote in favor of overriding the veto. Rep. Mike Kennedy, R-Utah, was the lone “no” of the four.
The failed vote comes as good news to the president as he averted a rare instance in which members of his own party sought to undo his executive decision.
Trump announced the vetoes late on Dec. 30, striking a bill to fund clean drinking water pipeline construction for the Arkansas Valley Conduit in southeastern Colorado, a proposal that was considered noncontroversial and had backing from both political parties. Republicans said they were “disappointed” in Trump’s decision, and one hinted at fears that the veto was an act of payback.
“I sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability. Americans deserve leadership that puts people over politics,” Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, who defied Trump by signing on to a discharge petition forcing the release of the Epstein files, said in a statement.
Rep. Jeff Hurd, R-Colo., similarly pushed back, arguing the veto violates a “long-standing federal commitment” to the community.
Hurd and Boebert had lobbied their colleagues throughout the week to vote in favor of overturning the vetoes, an effort that GOP leaders did not thwart. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told a group of reporters on Wednesday that leadership does not whip on those types of votes.
The White House did, however, allude to political reasons in the second veto, which rejected a bill that would have given the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians more control over some of its tribal lands in Florida. The Miccosukee Tribe is one of several groups that sued the Trump administration earlier this year after it created an immigration detention center nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” located in south Florida.
“Despite seeking funding and special treatment from the Federal Government, the Miccosukee Tribe has actively sought to obstruct reasonable immigration policies that the American people decisively voted for when I was elected,” Trump said in a statement justifying the veto. “My Administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding projects for special interests, especially those that are unaligned with my Administration’s policy of removing violent criminal illegal aliens from the country.”
That override was also unsuccessful after only 25 Republicans joined Democrats in voting for its reversal. It fell short of the two-thirds threshold in a 236-188 vote.