Trump’s first vetoes of his second term hit bipartisan infrastructure projects, draw accusations of retribution

President Donald Trump issued the first vetoes of his second term Tuesday, blocking bills that would support a pair of bipartisan infrastructure projects in Colorado and Florida. 

Trump's veto of the Colorado bill, the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, which Congress unanimously approved earlier in December, enraged the state's lawmakers. The bill would reduce the payments local communities must provide to the federal government for the construction of the Arkansas Valley Conduit, a pipeline poised to provide clean drinking water to rural communities in Colorado. 

In a message to Congress after vetoing the legislation, Trump said the bill 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."

"Enough is enough. My Administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable policies," he said. 

Bipartisan Colorado lawmakers who pushed the bill erupted after the veto, vowing Congress will override it. Some argued that Trump is making good on his vow for retribution after Colorado refused to free Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk who was convicted last year of crimes relating to the breach of voting machines after the 2020 election.

Trump warned earlier this year in a Truth Social post that if she was not released, he would "take harsh measures!!!"

Trump issued a pardon for Peters in December, but it was largely symbolic since Peters was convicted in a state court.

"This isn't governing. It's a revenge tour," said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who is also running for Colorado governor, in a post to X. "It's unacceptable. I'll keep fighting to get rural Colorado the clean water they deserve."

Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., also alleged Trump's veto was partisan. 

"Donald Trump is playing partisan games and punishing Colorado by making rural communities suffer without clean drinking water," Hickenlooper said on X. "Congress should swiftly overturn this veto."

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert, a staunch Trump ally, said on her X account that "This isn't over."

In a statement she gave to Colorado-based NBC-affiliate KUSA, Boebert said she "hope[s] this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability."

Boebert was one of the Republicans who joined Democrats in compelling the release of files related to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

Trump did not mention Peters in his rationale for vetoing the legislation. On Wednesday, however, he issued a Truth Social post saying, "God Bless Tina Peters, who is now, for two years out of nine, sitting in a Colorado Maximum Security Prison."

"Hard to wish her a Happy New Year, but to the Scumbag Governor, and the disgusting 'Republican' (RINO!) DA, who did this to her (nothing happens to the Dems and their phony Mail In Ballot System that makes it impossible for a Republican to win an otherwise very winnable State!), I wish them only the worst. May they rot in Hell," the President wrote.

Congress' unanimous passage of the bill suggests it will have the votes to override Trump's veto if GOP leadership in both chambers allows it. Two-thirds of both the House and the Senate would be needed to override the veto.

Rep. Jeff Hurd, another Colorado Republican, said in a post to X that he will "continue fighting for rural Colorado by working across party lines to get this project back on track and ensure our communities are not left behind." 

CNBC has reached out to House Speaker Mike Johnson's office to ask if he will allow the chamber to override the veto.

The Florida bill Trump vetoed, the Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act, also passed Congress by voice vote. The bill would have expanded the Miccosukee Reserved Area to include an area known as the Osecola Camp, part of the Everglades National Park. 

Trump in a message to Congress said he vetoed the bill in part to prevent "American taxpayers from funding projects for special interests, especially those that are unaligned with my Administration's policy of removing violent criminal illegal aliens from the country."

In Trump's first term, he vetoed a total of 10 bills. His first veto came in 2019, two years into his term, to overturn a congressional move to end a national emergency at the southern border. Congress failed to override that veto.