House vote to override Pres. Trump’s veto on Arkansas Valley conduit fails

DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) -- A last-ditch, bipartisan Hail Mary effort on the funding of a clean water pipeline in the Lower Arkansas River Valley has failed.

The "Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) Act" would have reduced the payments that communities within the Arkansas River Valley would make for the construction of a clean water pipeline from the Pueblo Reservoir. It would have removed interest payments and extended the repayment period to 100 years.

The measure unanimously passed in both the House and the Senate before being vetoed by President Trump.

On Thursday, the House took a vote on whether to override a veto from President Trump on the project. To override a presidential veto, lawmakers would have needed a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers. The vote to override failed.

It became clear that some of those who first voted "yes" on the project did not want to go against President Trump by overriding his decision on the matter.

According to a statement by President Trump, the White House found the project to be unviable. The project was first introduced in the 1960's, but President Trump says that the repayment terms have changed throughout the years, further landing the burden on federal taxpayers.

"More than $249 million has already been spent on the AVC, and total costs are estimated to be $1.3 billion. H.R. 131 would continue the failed policies of the past by forcing Federal taxpayers to bear even more of the massive costs of a local water project — a local water project that, as initially conceived, was supposed to be paid for by the localities using it," read a statement, in part, by President Trump. You can read the president's full statement by clicking here.

However, the bill did maintain some bipartisan support following the veto. Most notably, the bill's sponsor, Rep. Lauren Boebert, continued to push for the project.

"I want to boldly remind my colleagues here today that this project broke ground during the first Trump administration in 2020 due to major investments from the Trump-led Bureau of Reclamation and the state of Colorado," said Boebert, as our partners at 9News in Denver report.  “This bill makes good on not only a 60-year-plus commitment without wasting hundreds of millions of dollars in state and local and federal investments, but it also makes good on President Trump's commitment to rural communities, to Western water issues," she said. 

Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet shared similar sentiments of support for the bill. In a press release, Senator Bennet said the President's veto was part of a "vindictive war on Colorado," and was not related to the substance of the bill.

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