House refuses to override Trump vetoes as Republicans stick with
president
[January 09, 2026]
By KEVIN FREKING
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House refused Thursday to override President
Donald Trump's veto of two low-profile bills as Republicans stuck with
the president despite their prior support for the measures.
Congress can override a veto with support from two-thirds of the members
of the House and the Senate. The threshold is rarely reached. In this
case, Republicans opted to avoid a fight with the president in an
election year over bills with little national significance. The two
vetoes were the first of Trump's second term.
One bill Trump vetoed was designed to help local communities finance the
construction of a pipeline to provide water to tens of thousands in
Colorado. The other designated a site in Everglades National Park as a
part of the Miccosukee Indian Reservation. On the Colorado bill, 35
Republicans sided with Democrats in voting for an override. On the
Florida bill, only 24 Republicans voted for the override.
The White House did not issue any veto threats prior to passage of the
bills, so Trump's scathing comments in his veto message came as a
surprise to sponsors of the legislation. Ultimately, his vetoes had the
effect of punishing those who had opposed the president’s positions on
other issues.
The water pipeline bill came from Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of
Colorado, a longtime Trump ally who broke with the president in November
to release files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The bill to
give the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians more control of some of its tribal
lands would have benefited one of the groups that sued the
administration over an immigration detention center known as “ Alligator
Alcatraz.”
Republicans take sides
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said leadership was not urging — or
“whipping” — members on how to vote. He said he would personally vote to
sustain the vetoes and the president's message opposing the bills
“sounded very reasonable to me.” He said he understood the concerns of
the Colorado lawmakers about the veto and would work to help them on the
pipeline issue going forward.
Boebert said she has been talking to colleagues individually about
overriding Trump's veto, but wasn't sure about hitting the two-thirds
threshold. Some colleagues “don't want to go against the president,” she
said.
On the House floor, Boebert told colleagues that the communities
targeted through the bill could see the cost of their drinking water
triple without the legislation.
“This bill makes good not only on a 60-year plus commitment without
wasting hundreds of millions of dollars in state and local and federal
investments, but it also makes good on President Trump's commitment to
rural communities, to Western water issues,” Boebert said.
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President Donald Trump speaks to House Republican lawmakers during
their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
When asked by a reporter if the veto was in response to her signing
a discharge petition to release the Epstein files, she said, “I
certainly hope not.”
Trump did not allude to Boebert in his veto of her legislation, but
raised concerns about the cost of the water pipeline, saying
“restoring fiscal sanity is vital to economic growth and the fiscal
health of the Nation.”
Rep. Jeff Hurd, another Colorado Republican, also urged colleagues
to override the veto, saying the vote was not about defying Trump
but defending Congress.
“If Congress walks away from a 60-year commitment mid-project, then
no Western project is truly secure," Hurd said.
The Florida legislation had been sponsored by Republican Rep. Carlos
Gimenez, whom Trump has endorsed. In his veto message, Trump was
critical of the tribe, saying, “The Miccosukee Tribe has actively
sought to obstruct reasonable immigration policies that the American
people decisively voted for when I was elected.”
Before the House voted to pass his bill, Gimenez said it would
simply allow an inhabited tribal village to be included in the
Miccosukee Reservation, empowering the tribe to manage water flow
into the Everglades and raise structures within the camp to prevent
flooding. He did not speak on the floor prior to the vote.
Instead, Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida urged
colleagues to vote to override.
“This bill is so narrowly focused that (the veto) makes absolutely
no sense other than the interest in vengeance that seems to have
emanated in this result,” Wasserman Schultz said.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said he would vote to override the
president's vetoes.
“They passed unanimously,” Bacon said of the bills. “And I don't
know if I agree with the explanations for the veto."
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said she would vote to sustain the
vetoes.
“My constituents want me to stand with Trump,” Malliotakis said.
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