Pres. Trump vetoes bipartisan project aiming to provide safe drinking water to southern Colorado
COLORADO (KRDO) – In the first veto of his second term, President Donald Trump is using his power to kill funding for a bipartisan project that aims to bring clean, reliable drinking water to rural communities in southern Colorado.
The veto comes after the Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) Act was unanimously approved by both the House and the Senate.
The bill aims to fund a pipeline project that would bring clean drinking water to over 50,000 people living in the eastern plains between Pueblo and Lamar. Currently, the groundwater in this area is high in salt and will sometimes unleash radionuclides into the region's water supply.
The conduit is a decades-long project that has received bipartisan support from leaders across Colorado, including from Gov. Jared Polis, Sen. Michael Bennet, and Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert.
But according to our Denver news partners at 9NEWS, the president vetoed the bill on Monday.
In his official veto letter, Trump called the project an "expensive and unreliable" policy.
"Enough is enough. My Administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable policies. Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts and restoring fiscal sanity is vital to economic growth and the fiscal health of the Nation," the president wrote in part.
Notably, the veto comes after Trump promised retaliation against the state for keeping his ally, former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters, in state prison. Peters, who was convicted of tampering with voting machines, is currently the only Trump ally in prison related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Additionally, the pipeline falls in Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert's district. A long-term supporter of President Trump, Boebert made headlines in November after she stood up to the administration to force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, even after a closed-door meeting with top officials reportedly aimed at changing her mind.
In a strongly-worded statement to 9NEWS, Boebert said she "sincerely hope[s] this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability."
"President Trump decided to veto a completely non-controversial, bipartisan bill that passed both the House and the Senate unanimously," Bobert wrote. "Why? Because nothing says 'America First' like denying clean drinking water to 50,000 people in southeast Colorado, many of whom enthusiastically voted for him in all three elections."
State senators were also quick to comment on the president's veto, with Sen. Michael Bennet (D) posting on X, "This isn't governing. It's a revenge tour."
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D) added on X, "Donald Trump is playing partisan games and punishing Colorado by making rural communities suffer without clean drinking water. Congress should swiftly overturn this veto."
It's rare for a presidential veto to be overridden by Congress, but the huge, bipartisan support for the bill makes it possible, if Republican leaders in both chambers allow for an override vote.
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