House Republicans Refuse to Override 2 Trump Vetoes

UPDATE Jan 8, 2026 3:15 PM CST

House Republicans who voted unanimously for two bipartisan bills failed to defy President Trump in numbers large enough to override his vetoes on Thursday. The vote to override Trump's veto on a Colorado water project was 248-177, with 35 Republicans in favor, the Hill reports. On Trump's veto of a measure to enlarge land reserved for the Miccosukee Tribe in the Florida Everglades, the vote was 236-188, with 24 Republicans voting to override the veto. Overriding the veto would have required 290 votes, two-thirds of the chamber.

• Critics said Trump's vetoes of the previously low-profile and uncontroversial bills were the result of political grudges. Asked whether the veto of the Colorado bill she sponsored was connected to her support of the bill to release the government's files on Jeffrey Epstein, Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert said, "I certainly hope not." On the House floor, she said some communities in her state could see the cost of drinking water triple if the legislation died, the AP reports.

Jan 6, 2026 2:39 PM CST

House Republicans are preparing an unusual break with President Trump, lining up votes to override two of his vetoes in what would be a rare act of open defiance, per Politico and Axios. According to both outlets, the House is expected to vote Thursday to overturn Trump's rejection of two bipartisan bills: one to ease financing terms for a long-planned drinking water pipeline in southeastern Colorado, and another to enlarge land reserved for the Miccosukee Tribe in the Florida Everglades. Both measures cleared Congress in December with support from both parties, but reversing a presidential veto requires a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate, a bar that is seldom reached.

Trump, in veto messages released last week, argued the Colorado water 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." On the Miccosukee bill, he accused the tribe of blocking his immigration agenda and said the measure would favor "special interests." The Miccosukee Tribe has been at odds with the White House over plans for its Alligator Alcatraz immigrant detention facility. Florida lawmakers from both parties supported the land measure; Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez framed it as an issue of "fairness and conservation."

The pipeline project runs through the district of GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Trump ally who nonetheless objected to the veto, suggesting it was retaliation for her signing a discharge petition to force a vote on releasing Epstein-related documents last month. The veto fights highlight a growing pattern of friction between Trump and high-profile Republican women in Congress, per Axios, even as much of the party remains firmly aligned with him.