5:03President Donald Trump listens during a news conference with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla.Alex Brandon/AP
President Donald Trump exercised his veto power on his first bills of his second term, which included a bipartisan measure meant to allocate funding for a water infrastructure initiative in Colorado that had received unanimous approval from both the House and Senate.
The Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act was designed to supply clean drinking water to rural areas of Colorado.
"Enough is enough. My administration is dedicated to stopping American taxpayers from financing costly and unreliable policies," Trump stated in a veto letter addressed to Congress. "Eliminating the substantial burden of taxpayer subsidies and restoring fiscal responsibility is crucial for economic progress and the financial stability of the nation."
President Donald Trump listens during a news conference with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla.Alex Brandon/AP
Trump also vetoed the Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendment Act, a bipartisan proposal intended to enhance water flow into a section of Everglades National Park designated for the Miccosukee Native American tribe and to include the Osceola Camp in the Miccosukee Reserved Area to improve the tribe’s governance.
"[D]espite seeking funding and special treatment from the Federal Government, the Miccosukee Tribe has actively sought to hinder reasonable immigration policies that the American people decisively supported when I was elected," Trump noted in his veto. "My Administration is dedicated to preventing American taxpayers from financing projects for special interests, particularly those that contradict my Administration’s policy of deporting violent criminal illegal immigrants from the nation."
The Miccosukee tribe opposed the establishment of the so-called "Alligator Alcatraz" migrant detention facility in the Everglades.
Trump’s veto of the bipartisan measure in support of the Colorado project occurs amidst tense relations with certain political figures in the state.
The bill was co-sponsored by House Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who went against the Trump administration by signing the Epstein discharge petition that compelled a vote on a measure to urge the DOJ to release the files. The pipeline would supply water to residents within Boebert’s district.
Rep. Lauren Boebert arrives at the U.S. Capitol Building on December 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
"This isn't the end," Boebert declared on social media on Tuesday, reacting to the White House’s veto announcement.
Democrats are also reacting to the veto of the bill, with Colorado’s Democratic Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper criticizing Trump on social media, both accusing him of engaging in partisan politics.
"Trump just vetoed my Arkansas Valley Conduit bill — passed unanimously to deliver clean, affordable water to Southeast Colorado," Bennet expressed. "This isn’t governance. It’s a revenge tour."
"Donald Trump is indulging in partisan antics and punishing Colorado by making rural communities endure a lack of clean drinking water," Hickenlooper stated, urging Congress to override Trump’s veto.
The U.S. Capitol at sunset in Washington, D.C., Dec. 23, 2025.Tyrone Siu/Reuters
Sourse: abcnews.go.com