Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) has knocked President Donald Trump for vetoing legislation that would’ve provided her state with funding to complete a pipeline project known as the Arkansas Valley Conduit.
“President Trump decided to veto a completely non-controversial, bipartisan bill that passed both the House and Senate unanimously. If this administration wants to make its legacy blocking projects that deliver water to rural Americans; that’s on them,” Boebert said in a statement to local outlet 9News.
She added that she hopes “this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability,” a reference to her vote in favor of releasing the Epstein files.
“Americans deserve leadership that puts people over politics,” her statement concluded.
In a statement, the White House said it was vetoing the bill due to the project’s cost, which was estimated to be $1.3 billion. More than $249 million has already been spent on the AVC.
“H.R. 131 would continue the failed policies of the past by forcing Federal taxpayers to bear even more of the massive costs of a local water project — a local water project that, as initially conceived, was supposed to be paid for by the localities using it,” the veto decision states. “Enough is enough. 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. For these reasons, I cannot support the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act. Therefore, it is my duty to return H.R. 131 to the House of Representatives without my approval.”
In addition to her statement to 9News, Boebert wrote “This isn’t over” in an X post on Tuesday.
This isn’t over. https://t.co/SxRacLX8fp
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) December 31, 2025
Boebert is the latest Republican to face a fallout with Trump before the end of 2025. She follows in the footsteps of Marjorie Taylor Greene, who announced her resignation from Congress in November after clashing with Trump over the Epstein files and the government shutdown.
As thousands of pages of documents were released last week, the Department of Justice issued a caveat that files included “unfounded and false” claims.
“Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the Department of Justice said at the time. “To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”
The statement added that the department’s “commitment to the law and transparency” compelled it to release the documents, which include “legally required protections” for Epstein’s victims.
Within the pages is an allegation that Trump raped an unnamed woman. Trump has distanced himself from Epstein ahead of the files’ drop, noting the two fell out years before the latter was charged with sex trafficking in 2019.
In addition to the funding for the Arkansas Valley Conduit, Trump vetoed a separate bill that would’ve given the Miccosukee tribe the authority to manage part of the Florida Everglade, which he attributed to the tribe’s stance on immigration policy. The tribe has opposed the Trump administration’s Alligator Alcatraz detention center in the state.
Congress can override the vetoes with a two-thirds vote in both chambers, but it’s unclear if it will look to do so.
In Trump’s first term, he vetoed a total of 10 bills, one of which was overridden.
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