House fails to override Trump’s vetoes of 2 bills that passed unanimously

Washington — The House on Thursday failed to override two of President Trump’s vetoes of bipartisan bills, with Republicans largely sticking by the president to uphold his decision to block the legislation.

Both bills initially passed the House and Senate unanimously. Thursday’s votes required a two-thirds majority to override the vetoes, but both fell significantly short.

One of the pieces of legislation would have given the Miccosukee Tribe more control over a portion of the Florida Everglades, and the second would have funded a water pipeline in southeast Colorado. The president vetoed both in December.

The vote to override Mr. Trump’s veto of the Florida bill was 236 in favor to 188 opposed. The vote on the veto of the Colorado bill was 248 to 177. 

In a message to Congress, Mr. Trump explained the vetoes were aimed at “ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts.” But some lawmakers viewed the blocking of the bills as retaliation over political disagreements.

The president tied his decision on the Florida bill in part to the tribe’s opposition to his immigration policies. Last year, the Miccosukee Tribe joined a lawsuit challenging an immigration detention center, known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” in the Everglades. The tribe argued the detention center could have adverse effects on the environment.

“Despite seeking funding and special treatment from the federal government, the Miccosukee Tribe has actively sought to obstruct reasonable immigration policies that the American people decisively voted for when I was elected,” Mr. Trump said in his notification to Congress. “My administration is committed to preventing 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.”

In Colorado, Mr. Trump has lashed out at officials over the case of Tina Peters, a former state election official who is imprisoned on state charges for tampering with voting machines during the 2020 election.

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado sponsored the legislation to help local governments pay for the Arkansas Valley Conduit water pipeline. She was also one of the GOP lawmakers who helped force the release of the Epstein files, resisting pressure from the White House to back down.

Boebert criticized Mr. Trump’s veto, saying he was “denying clean drinking water to 50,000 people in southeast Colorado, many of whom enthusiastically voted for him in all three elections.”

“I sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability,” she said in a statement.