{"id":14179,"date":"2025-12-31T16:57:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T23:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bipartisan-colorado-pipeline-bill-was-noncontroversial-until-trump-vetoed-it\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:33:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:33:01","slug":"bipartisan-colorado-pipeline-bill-was-noncontroversial-until-trump-vetoed-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bipartisan-colorado-pipeline-bill-was-noncontroversial-until-trump-vetoed-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Bipartisan Colorado pipeline bill was noncontroversial until Trump vetoed it"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rep.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., leaves the U.S. Capitol after voting in favor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act on Nov. 18 in Washington. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Julia Demaree Nikhinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 President Donald Trump issued the first vetoes of his second term Tuesday, rejecting two low-profile bipartisan bills in a move that punished backers who opposed him on other issues.<\/p>\n

Trump vetoed a drinking-water pipeline bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, a longtime ally who broke with Trump in November by supporting the release of files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n

He also vetoed legislation to give the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida more control over some tribal lands. The tribe was among groups suing the administration over an immigration detention center in the Everglades known as \u201cAlligator Alcatraz.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both bills had bipartisan support and were considered noncontroversial until the White House announced the vetoes Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Trump acknowledged the tribe\u2019s opposition to the detention facility in a letter to Congress explaining his veto. \u201cThe Miccosukee Tribe has actively sought to obstruct reasonable immigration policies that the American people decisively voted for when I was elected,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n

Trump did not mention Boebert in his veto message but raised concerns about the cost of the water pipeline.<\/p>\n

In an interview Wednesday with Politico, Trump also criticized Colorado\u2019s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, saying he vetoed the bill because \u201cThey\u2019re wasting a lot of money and people are leaving the state. They\u2019re leaving the state in droves. Bad governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boebert, one of four House Republicans who sided with Democrats early on to force the release of the Epstein files, shared a statement on social media suggesting the veto may have been \u201cpolitical retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d her statement said. Boebert added in another post: \u201cThis isn\u2019t over.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Florida legislation was sponsored by Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez, whom Trump has endorsed. Gimenez and the Miccosukee Tribe were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.<\/p>\n

When asked whether the vetoes were punishment, the White House did not answer and instead referred to Trump\u2019s statements explaining the vetoes.<\/p>\n

Congress can override the vetoes by a two-thirds vote in both chambers, but it\u2019s unclear if there\u2019s enough support in the Republican-controlled House and Senate, especially heading into a midterm election year when many lawmakers will be on the ballot and count on Trump\u2019s backing.<\/p>\n

Boebert\u2019s legislation, the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, aimed to improve access to clean drinking water in eastern Colorado.<\/p>\n

While Boebert has long been a staunch Trump supporter, she clashed with him this year by backing legislation requiring the Justice Department to release Epstein-related files.<\/p>\n

Trump opposed the proposal before reversing course amid growing Republican support. Members of his administration even met with Boebert in the White House Situation Room to discuss the matter, though she didn\u2019t change her stance.<\/p>\n

Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd of Colorado, who co-sponsored the legislation, said he was \u201cdeeply disappointed\u201d by Trump\u2019s veto.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a bipartisan, unanimous bill passed by Congress to uphold a long-standing federal commitment to southeastern Colorado,\u201d Hurd said in a statement.<\/p>\n

He said the legislation did not authorize new construction spending or expand the federal government\u2019s original commitment to the pipeline project but adjusted repayment terms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Boebert suggests president retaliated for Epstein vote: \u2018This isn\u2019t over\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,819,28,29,315,367,295],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-14179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-gov-jared-polis","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-u-s-rep-lauren-boebert","tag-water"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14179"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19370,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14179\/revisions\/19370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14179"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=14179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}