Donald Trump's grip on his own party continues to slip as the GOP-controlled House Republicans gear up to vote against his recent vetoes in what Politico called a "rare rebuke" of the president.
According to three sources who spoke with Politico anonymously, the House is planning to vote on Thursday to override vetoes that Trump recently issued against bills that had Republican support. The sources indicate that both GOP and Democratic House leadership expect that the votes exist to successfully overrule the vetoes, which requires two-thirds of the chamber to pass.
Although the bills already passed in both chambers of Congress, there is some concern that those who previously supported them might now change their tune in order to fall in line with Trump. Both efforts also face uncertain odds of passing in the Senate, though the rebuke of Trump by the House would still stand as a notable message sent to the president.
Presidents have the authority to "veto," or block, any bill that passes Congress, though it is generally considered a rare occurrence. Trump, for example, only issued 10 vetoes in his first term, and only in the last two years when Democrats had control of the House. These most recent vetoes are the first he has issued in his second term, and the first he has ever issued while his own party holds the trifecta in government. Joe Biden issued 13 vetoes during his term in the White House, while facing thin Democratic majorities in the House and Senate during his first two years, and a GOP House majority in his first.
The first bill, the Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act, would have added land in the Florida Everglades to the area that the Miccosukee Native American Tribe has control over, thereby requiring the Department of the Interior to help prevent parts of the area from suffering damage from flooding. Democratic Rep. Darren Soto of Florida believed that the veto was done as revenge for the tribe joining a lawsuit opposing the construction of the "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention center in the Everglades.
The other bill, the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, called for the completion of a water pipeline that would have helped service around 50,000 residents in southeastern Colorado. Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado suggested that the veto from Trump might have been retribution for her support of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“… Trump decided to veto … a bipartisan bill that passed both the House and Senate unanimously. Why? Because nothing says ‘America First’ like denying clean drinking water to 50,000 people in Southeast Colorado, many of whom enthusiastically voted for him in all three elections,” Boebert said. “… I sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability. Americans deserve leadership that puts people over politics.”
