In one of the first vetoes of his second term, Donald Trump blocked bipartisan legislation that would have provided clean drinking water for rural Coloradans in 39 communities. Currently, Southeastern Colorado is tainted with radioactivity and carcinogens, which are particularly harmful for seniors and kids.

The Trump administration has already rolled back critical public health protections, including abandoning limits on forever chemicals, delaying the EPA’s ban on asbestos, and repealing the Clean Water Rule that protected 60 percent of the nation’s streams and millions of acres of wetlands.

A reminder: Donald Trump has already unleashed a health care crisis in rural Colorado. His Big Ugly Bill kicks 190,000 Colorado families off their health care and puts six rural hospitals in the state on the brink of closure.

In response, DNC Deputy Communications Director Abhi Rahman released the following statement: 

“Because of Donald Trump, Colorado families are facing a health care crisis. Trump’s Big Ugly Bill kicks thousands of rural Coloradans off health care and puts six rural hospitals on the brink of closure, and now he wants to prevent rural Coloradans from having clean drinking water. This is classic Trump: He says he cares about rural America and then sells them out every chance he gets. Congress must stand up for rural families and override Trump’s cruel, selfish, and retaliatory veto.”

Read more below:

Colorado Public Radio: Trump vetoes bipartisan bill to provide clean water to rural Southeastern Colorado

By Caitlyn Kim, Shanna Lewis, and Chuck Murphy

• President Donald Trump on Tuesday vetoed the “Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act” despite its sponsorship by fellow Republicans and the significant benefits it would provide to southeastern Colorado, where his support runs deep. 

• The conduit, which broke ground in 2023, will provide clean water for farming, factories and households.

• The project would also provide badly needed jobs for the area.

• “This isn’t a frivolous project,” Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District Senior Policy and Issues Manager Chris Woodka said. “It’s a project that meets federally mandated standards for water quality to ensure that 50,000 people are drinking clean, not carcinogenic, water.”

• “President Trump decided to veto a completely non-controversial, bipartisan bill that passed both the House and Senate unanimously,” Boebert said. “If this administration wants to make its legacy blocking projects that deliver water to rural Americans; that’s on them.”

• The project has been on the drawing board since the 1960s. It was designed to eventually stop groundwater withdrawals in the area, which can produce water tainted with radioactivity. 

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