Lauren Boebert slams Trump veto of Colorado water project bill, says it could be retaliation
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Republican Lauren Boebert fired back at President Donald Trump Tuesday evening after he vetoed a bill that would have reduced payments for a water project in her district; Boebert believes this could be political revenge.
“President Trump has decided to veto a completely uncontroversial, bipartisan bill that passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate. Why? Because nothing says ‘America First’ like denying clean drinking water to 50,000 people in southeastern Colorado, many of whom enthusiastically voted for him in all three elections,” Boebert said in a speech. Statement published by journalist Kyle Clarke.
Boebert raised the possibility that the veto was in retaliation for her vote to release the Epstein files earlier this year.
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Representative Lauren Boebert is seen leaving the House of Representatives. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
“I hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability, Americans deserve leadership that puts people before politics,” Boebert said.
Open that vote, Boebert, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Nancy Mace, RN.C., Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. and joined the chamber’s Democrats in bringing the Epstein Files Transparency Act to the floor for a vote, over the requests of House leadership and the administration.
Although the bill was initially opposed, Trump signed it into law after it cleared both houses of Congress with little opposition after Boebert helped introduce the bill.
Boebert’s break with the Trump veto marks another notable rift between Trump and some of his staunchest allies in the House.
Her comments about the veto are a continuation of Marjorie Taylor Green’s criticism of President Trump and what Greene sees as a departure from campaign promises made in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.
Greene, formerly one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, has made plans to leave Congress early, citing disagreements with the party’s direction. He will resign on January 5, 2026.
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke to “60 Minutes” on Dec. 7, 2025. (CBS/60 Minutes)
Boebert has become an ally of Trump in her own right, but has not been shy about voicing her displeasure over the veto.
“I must have missed the rally where she stood in Colorado and promised to personally derail critical water infrastructure projects. My mistake, I thought the campaign was about cutting costs and cutting red tape,” Boebert said.
“But hey, if this administration wants to continue their legacy by blocking water projects that provide water to rural Americans, that’s on them,” he added.
Bill vetoed by Trump Finish the Arkansas Valley Pipe Act, It would eliminate interest payments required by the Bureau of Reclamation for construction of the Colorado pipeline that delivers water from the Pueblo Reservation. It would also increase the payback period of the project to 100 years.
As Boebert noted, the bill passed without objection in a unanimous vote in the House of Representatives in July.
Inside self-declaration The White House said it vetoed the bill because it would force the federal government to take up more of the bill for a state and local project authorized by previous administrations.
The water project was first made possible by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act passed by President Barack Obama in 2009, according to the White House.
“More than 249 million dollars have already been spent” [pipeline] The total cost is estimated at $1.3 billion,” the White House wrote.
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The White House is seen the day after President Donald Trump announced that the United States would launch a military strike on nuclear sites in Iran on June 22, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
“H.R. 131 would continue the failed policies of the past by forcing Federal taxpayers to bear even more of the enormous costs of a local water project—one that, as originally conceived, must be paid for by the localities that use it.”
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The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the decision had anything to do with Boebert’s vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
