A view of the dome of the U.S. Capitol building, during a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on a stopgap spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown that would otherwise begin October 1, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. U.S., September 19, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Reuters
The House of Representatives failed Thursday to override President Donald Trump’s first vetoes of his second term.
Trump last month vetoed a pair of bills that would support local infrastructure in Colorado and Florida. Both bills passed unanimously by voice vote in the House and the Senate.
Trump’s veto of the Colorado bill infuriated some Republicans from the state, including the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Lauren Boebert, a close Trump ally. The bill, the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, would reduce the payments local communities must make for the construction of a pipeline set to provide clean drinking water to rural communities in Colorado.
“This bill makes good … on President Trump’s commitment to rural communities,” Boebert said Thursday in remarks on the House floor ahead of the vote.
Rep. Jeff Hurd, R-Colo., went further in his criticism in a speech on the House floor.
“[Trump’s veto] should give every member pause,” Hurd, who co-sponsored the bill, said. “My constituents are watching, and your constituents are watching.”
In a message to Congress, Trump said he vetoed the Colorado bill because it 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.”
Both Boebert and Hurd said they plan to vote to override Trump’s veto of the bill.
If the House approves the override, the measure would head to the Senate for approval. A two-thirds majority is needed in both chambers to override a veto.
The House will separately vote on whether to override Trump’s veto of the Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act. The bill would transfer a tract of land in Florida known as the Osceola Camp in the Everglades National Park to the reserved area for the Miccosukee Tribe. It would require the Interior Department to help flood-proof structures in the area.
Trump said he vetoed the bill in part to prevent “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.”
The administration said in statements of policy that it “strongly opposes” both veto overrides. Some Republicans, including Rep. Randy Fine, a Republican from Florida, indicated they would follow the White House’s marching orders to not overturn the veto.
“I support the president, so I’m not going to vote to override him,” Fine said in an interview with CNBC.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
