December 8, 2025 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
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President Donald Trump’s first veto of a second term survived a separate override vote by the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The results were surprising because both bills, which President Trump vetoed, passed with unanimous votes in both the House and Senate. This bill provided infrastructure support for Colorado and Florida.
The override vote to veto the Colorado bill was rejected by a vote of 248-177, with one member present voting. Florida’s override measure failed 236-188.
Overriding a veto requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress. As a general rule, if a vote to override a veto is rejected in the House, a vote in the Senate is not required and the veto remains in effect.
The vote came hours after President Trump was reprimanded for passing a bill in the Senate that would limit his ability to use U.S. troops in Venezuela.
Trump’s veto of the Colorado bill infuriated some Republicans in the state. That includes the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Lauren Boebert, who was a close ally of Mr. Trump until late 2025.
The bill, the Complete the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, aims to reduce the payments local communities must make for the construction of pipelines to provide clean drinking water to rural areas in Colorado.
“I’m disappointed in the lack of leadership I see every time I’m in the chamber,” Boebert told reporters after the invalid vote.
“This had nothing to do with policy…people are afraid of getting mean tweets and attacks,” she said.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) arrives at the U.S. Capitol for the final vote of the week on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call Inc. | Getty Images
The bill’s other co-sponsor, Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.), said before the vote that overriding President Trump’s veto would reaffirm Congress’s authority.
Hurd said Trump’s veto “should give all members pause.” “My voters are paying attention, and your voters are paying attention, too.”
In a message to Congress, President Trump said he vetoed the Colorado bill because it would “place an even greater burden on federal taxpayers for local water services and continue the failed policies of the past.” As originally envisioned, rural water projects were supposed to be paid for by the regions that used them.
The Florida bill that President Trump vetoed would have transferred land known as Osceola Camp in Everglades National Park to the Miccosukee Tribe Reservation. The bill would also require the Department of the Interior to support flood protection structures in the area.
President Trump said he vetoed the bill in part to prevent “American taxpayers from funding projects for special interests, especially those that are inconsistent with my administration’s policy of removing illegal aliens from the country who have committed violent crimes.”
Trump was accused of vetoing both bills for political reasons.
The Miccosukee Tribe is one of the groups that sued the Trump administration over the construction of the Alligator Alcatraz detention center for immigrants.
The facility was then closed.
Boebert was one of the few successful Republicans to push back against Trump and join Democrats in an effort to force the Justice Department to release files related to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Boebert resisted intense pressure from the White House to reverse the effort.
President Trump also vowed to retaliate against the state of Colorado, which refused to release former county employee Tina Peters, who was convicted last year on charges related to tampering with voting machines.
“I’m not going to vote to overturn the president because I support the president,” Republican Rep. Randy Fine of Florida said in an interview Wednesday night.
—CNBC’s Justin Papp contributed to this report.
