Republican Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert sharply criticized President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening after he vetoed her legislation funding a clean water pipeline in the southeastern corner of the state.
Boebert’s bill, known as the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, aims to complete a long-planned pipeline project in Colorado’s Eastern Plains by allowing for more flexible repayment options to finance local communities’ construction costs. The congresswoman argued the president’s veto is a slap in the face to voters in her district, who backed the president by double digits in 2024.
“[N]othing says ‘America First’ like denying clean water to 50,000 people in Southeast Colorado, many of whom enthusiastically voted for him in all three elections,” Boebert said in a Tuesday statement to a local Colorado outlet. “I must have missed the rally where he stood in Colorado and promised to derail critical water infrastructure projects.”
“But hey, if this administration wants to make its legacy blocking projects that deliver water for rural Americans — that’s on them,” Boebert continued.
The 130-mile pipeline project, long plagued by funding challenges, broke ground in 2023 and would give 39 communities access to safe drinking water, according to the bills’ sponsors. The conduit was first proposed by former President John F. Kennedy.
The legislation was unanimously approved by both chambers via voice vote — a voting method typically reserved for noncontroversial bills. It is not clear whether Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson would allow a vote to override Trump’s veto.
The White House argued the pipeline project wasted taxpayer dollars and should be financed by local authorities.
“Enough is enough,” Trump wrote in a statement posted to X announcing the veto. “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.”
Boebert’s blistering statement marks a departure from her typical praise of Trump’s policy agenda in Congress. The congresswoman, who had recently defied Trump over the Epstein files, also mused about whether the president’s veto of her bipartisan water pipeline bill amounted to retribution.
“[I] sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability,” Boebert said in her statement. “Americans deserve leadership that puts people over politics.”
The Colorado lawmaker was among four Republicans who signed a discharge petition triggering a vote on bipartisan legislation compelling the Department of Justice to release files associated with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in November.
The Justice Department has begun releasing troves of documents after Trump signed the measure into law, though critics argue the agency is defying Congress by not releasing all of the files by the statutory deadline.
Democratic Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, who sponsored the pipeline legislation in the Senate, slammed Trump’s veto Tuesday evening.
“This isn’t governing. It’s a revenge tour,” Bennet wrote on X.
The duo are blocking consideration of a slate of appropriations in the upper chamber, citing the Trump administration’s plans to dismantle a national climate and weather lab in Boulder, Colorado. White House budget chief Russ Vought argued the facility is “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.”
The president vowed “harsh measures” for Colorado in August if the Centennial State does not release former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, 70, who is serving a nine-year sentence after being convicted for tampering with voting machines during the 2020 election. Trump pardoned Peters in December, though the measure was largely symbolic because the former election official was convicted under state law.
Trump also vetoed legislation Tuesday that would grant more land to the Miccosukee Tribe within Everglades National Park. The bipartisan bill passed via voice vote in the House and Senate.
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