The Arkansas Valley Conduit, which would provide clean water to some 50,000 people in rural Southeast Colorado – an area that voted heavily for Trump in three elections – wasn’t designed for the asylum-seekers, DEI advocates or child care centers the president has consistently and most recently targeted. Nevertheless, on Dec. 30, President Donald Trump vetoed legislation that would have eliminated interest on some construction debt and extended payment terms to make repayment easier for users (Herald, Jan. 2).
Although the president said it was too expensive at $1.3 billion, the apparent motivation is that the veto was aimed at Reps. Lauren Boebert and Jeff Hurd, who both represent the affected area, in response to Boebert taking a critical position in support of releasing government-held materials related to Jeffrey Epstein.
That relatively clear retribution against a Republican who was advocating for her constituents motivated the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to take the extraordinary step of attempting to override the president’s veto of the legislation, which had received unanimous support in both chambers. Thirty-five Republicans did just that, along with all Democrats, but that wasn’t sufficient to meet the needed two-thirds majority.
Boebert, in a statement reported by The New York Times on Thursday, said that “promises made should be kept” (the president had touted the value of the project during his campaigning), and that “my work here isn’t finished.” Hurd was quoted as saying the override was “not about defying the president, it is about defending Congress.”
Republicans who stood up show that pushback by Republican members of Congress against less-than-straightforward presidential actions is possible; here’s hoping it will continue and grow.
