President Donald Trump has issued the first veto of his second term, rejecting a bipartisan bill that would have extended federal support for a long-delayed water pipeline project in southeastern Colorado—setting up a rare showdown with Congress and an unusually public split with one of his own party’s most prominent lawmakers.
Why It Matters
Presidential vetoes are uncommon when legislation passes Congress unanimously. Trump’s decision to block the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act has drawn attention not only because it halts a decades-old drinking water project serving rural communities, but also because it comes amid escalating political tensions between the White House and Colorado officials, including a Republican ally who sponsored the bill.
The veto raises questions about whether Congress will attempt an override and whether the move reflects broader fiscal policy priorities—or political retaliation.
The veto followed Trump’s public promise of retaliation against Colorado and Democratic Governor Jared Polis over the imprisonment of Tina Peters, a former county clerk convicted of state charges related to election system tampering following Trump’s 2020 presidential election loss to former President Joe Biden.
What To Know
In a veto message sent to the House of Representatives, Trump said he was returning H.R. 131 “without my approval,” arguing that the Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) project had become an unfair burden on federal taxpayers.
The pipeline, first authorized in 1962 as part of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project signed into law by President John F. Kennedy, is intended to deliver municipal and industrial water to communities between Pueblo and Lamar, Colorado.
According to Trump’s veto message, the project was delayed for decades because it was “economically unviable” under its original cost-repayment structure, which required local users to fully repay federal funding with interest.
Trump said later changes—including provisions in a 2009 law signed by President Barack Obama reducing the local repayment share to 35 percent—failed to resolve those issues. He argued the latest bill would further shift costs to federal taxpayers by extending the repayment period to 75 years and cutting interest rates in half, despite more than $249 million already spent and total projected costs estimated at $1.3 billion.
“My Administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable policies,” Trump wrote, adding, “Enough is enough.”
Local reporting by NBC affiliate 9News Denver said the pipeline would serve 39 communities where groundwater is often contaminated by high salinity and, at times, radioactivity. The bill passed both the House and Senate by voice vote, indicating unanimous consent.
The project lies within the congressional district of Republican U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert, a longtime ardent Trump supporter who sponsored the House version of the legislation.
What People Are Saying
Polis condemned the decision: “It’s very disappointing that the President is hurting rural Colorado by vetoing this bipartisan and non-controversial bill–passed unanimously by both the U.S. House and Senate–which would have delivered on the decades-long promised Arkansas Valley Conduit and secure this much-needed supply of clean water for rural southeastern Colorado.”
Boebert, in a sharply worded statement on X, criticizing the veto: “President Trump decided to veto a completely non-controversial, bipartisan bill that passed both the House and Senate unanimously… Nothing says ‘America First’ like denying clean drinking water to 50,000 people in Southeast Colorado.”
Boebert added that she hoped the veto “has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability,” a reference to her recent public challenge to the administration over the release of files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
What Happens Next
Because the bill passed both chambers unanimously, congressional leaders could attempt to override the veto, which would require a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate. While overrides are rare, it is also uncommon for a president to veto a bill that cleared Congress without opposition.
It remains unclear whether House and Senate leadership will schedule an override vote. For now, the veto halts progress on what supporters describe as the final phase of a 60-year-old federal water project, leaving its future uncertain as political tensions sharpen.
