President Donald Trump has issued the first vetoes of his second term, blocking two bipartisan bills that passed Congress unanimously — and cutting off projects meant to help communities in Colorado and Florida.
The bills, H.R. 131 and H.R. 504, had little drama attached to them when they moved through Congress. Both cleared the House and Senate without a single dissenting vote. Both focused on long-running infrastructure problems. And both were stopped at the president’s desk.
In a message sent to Congress explaining his veto of H.R. 131, Trump framed the decision as a matter of cost and principle.
President Trump has issued his first vetoes of the term, rejecting two bipartisan bills that would have advanced a Colorado water pipeline and expanded tribal control over part of the Everglades.
Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/geKpKEYp5m
— AF Post (@AFpost) December 31, 2025
“Enough is enough,” Trump wrote. “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,” according to a statement issued by The White House.
H.R. 131, known as the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, aimed to reduce repayment costs for southeastern Colorado communities tied to a federal water pipeline project that has dragged on for decades. For years, local officials warned that without relief, smaller towns could be priced out of access to clean, reliable water.
Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse accused Trump of turning infrastructure into punishment.
BREAKING: Trump vetoes Boebert’s bill on the Arkansas Valley Conduit, saying “my administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable policies.”
The AVC is critical to bringing fresh water to Eastern Colorado. pic.twitter.com/s5dYzXjgtC
— Jeff Hunt (@jeffhunt) December 31, 2025
“President Trump continues his political retribution against our state — this time, by blocking a critical water project for southeastern Colorado,” Neguse wrote in a Facebook post. “Corrupt, petty, and utterly lawless.”
Neguse also noted that the bill was authored by Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert alongside Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, a rare cross-party effort that still wasn’t enough to save it.
Bennet went further on X, calling the veto personal. “Back from holiday break, Trump’s first move: veto a unanimous, bipartisan bill to deliver clean drinking water to rural Colorado.” He then delivered the final blow.
“This is payback because Colorado won’t bend to his corruption. It’s weak, it’s dangerous, and it’s unamerican.”
The second vetoed bill, H.R. 504, would have expanded land reserved for the Miccosukee Tribe in Florida and directed the Interior Department to work with the tribe on flooding mitigation. The area has been repeatedly hit by storm-related flooding, a growing concern as South Florida sees heavier rain events.
Trump vetoed a bipartisan bill to enlarge the tiny Miccosukee reserve in the Everglades because, Trump says, the tribe doesn’t support kicking out immigrants. (What a petty man.)
They actually have a long history of supporting such initiatives, but we’ve never complied. pic.twitter.com/lzwFxUsu38
— Karen Piper (@PiperK) December 31, 2025
Trump offered this explanation for vetoing H.R. 504, “But 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.”
Congressional leaders have confirmed that an override vote is possible, but it would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers — a high bar, even for bills that passed unanimously the first time.
The vetoes land amid Trump’s escalating conflict with Colorado officials, including Democratic Gov. Jared Polis. According to ABC 12 News, Trump has repeatedly attacked Polis over the imprisonment of Tina Peters, a former county clerk convicted on state charges related to election interference. Trump issued Peters a federal pardon earlier this month, though it does not affect her state sentence.
JUST IN: Trump used his first veto to block a unanimously approved Colorado drinking water project.
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, whose district the pipeline project is in, slammed Trump, suggesting it was retaliation for her signing the discharge petition to release the… pic.twitter.com/lUHWq6Ax2k
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) December 31, 2025
The White House has denied retaliation, but the timing hasn’t gone unnoticed in Colorado, where another federal facility closure was recently announced with little warning.
These vetoes are Trump’s first official rejections of his second term, and they underscore the real stakes of a presidential veto. Even a bill passed overwhelmingly by Congress, including both parties, can be stopped cold at the last moment, reshaping who gets help and who doesn’t.
