In the first veto of his second term, President Donald Trump chose to halt a bipartisan 130-mile water infrastructure project 60 years in the making. With one stroke of a pen, he denied clean drinking water to 50,000 Americans in rural southeast Colorado.
This decision defies logic but fits a troubling pattern. While the administration focuses its energy on international brinkmanship and personal grievances, the basic needs of American families are treated like an afterthought, even as costs for working people continue to soar.
What Congress must do next is clear.
Trump’s focus changes by the hour, but the consequences for Americans across the country are permanent. What Congress must do next is clear.
The Arkansas Valley Conduit is much more than a project defined by Trump’s veto — it’s a lifeline. Without it, southeastern Coloradans must continue to rely on contaminated, carcinogenic groundwater. Authorized by Congress in 1962, the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project was designed to deliver water from the Pueblo Reservoir to 39 communities along the Arkansas River Valley. That year, President John F. Kennedy stood in Pueblo and promised that the federal government would see it through.
For the next six decades, Colorado leaders from both parties fought to keep that promise. We are in the final stages of the project, and keeping the conduit affordable is a critical remaining piece.
We partnered with Rep. Lauren Boebert to introduce the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act in January 2025 to keep construction on track.
Through our historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed into law in November 2021, we secured more than $500 million for the project and broke ground on the conduit in 2023. We partnered with Rep. Lauren Boebert to introduce the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act in January 2025 to keep construction on track. The act also reduced costs by lowering the interest rate and established flexible repayment terms for the communities in Colorado footing the costs of construction.
The bill would have no measurable increase in federal spending and passed the Senate and the House of Representatives with the support of every single member of Congress. In a Washington defined by division, Republicans and Democrats alike agreed that this was the right thing to do — everyone except the president.
It’s baffling why anyone would veto a unanimous, bipartisan rural water project. It’s even more baffling when you consider who is being hurt. The people of Colorado’s Eastern Plains overwhelmingly supported this president at the polls and took him at his word when he campaigned on lowering costs and making life better for the often-forgotten parts of America.
The completion of the Arkansas Valley Conduit would mean water for rural schools in communities such as Lamar, which are teaching the next generation. It would mean water for hospitals in towns such as La Junta, which are keeping Coloradans healthy.
Instead, Trump has left these communities out to dry — communities that have been waiting for safe drinking water for 60 years.
Sadly, this veto is part of a broader campaign of attacks against our state.
Over the past month, Trump has denied Colorado critical disaster relief after wildfires and flooding. His administration abruptly announced the dismantling of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, without any plan to continue its life-saving scientific work. His administration canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in transportation and child care grants for our state. When a president puts political vendettas ahead of clean water for schools, hospitals and ranchers, he isn’t “shaking up” Washington. He is undermining the people he swore to serve. And it’s working people and rural communities that pay the price. Unfortunately, this is par for the course with this president. Time and again, he has made critical announcements and, before the public can digest them, he’s already moved on to his next reckless action. This pattern leaves everyday Americans to pick up the pieces. His administration’s tactics are designed to overwhelm us and make us resigned to the consequences. His administration’s tactics are designed to overwhelm us and make us resigned to the consequences. But projects like the Arkansas Valley Conduit are too important to fall victim to Trump’s strategic chaos. It’s southeast Colorado today, but if we allow basic infrastructure projects to be used as a political weapon, it could be your community tomorrow. The House of Representatives is scheduled to take up a vote Thursday to override Trump’s veto. If members of either party actually want to deliver for their constituents, then the path forward is clear. Congress must stand up to this intimidation, honor the promise made 60 years ago and override this veto.
John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, is a U.S. senator from Colorado.
Michael Bennet, a Democrat, is a U.S. senator from Colorado.
