Two Colorado lawmakers say President Donald Trump is harming his own voters after appearing to veto an important clean water bill to slight a personal enemy.
“Sadly, this veto is part of a broader campaign of attacks against our state,” wrote Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) in a Thursday op-ed for MS NOW.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) previously accused Trump of blocking a non-controversial water project affecting her district after she challenged Trump to force the release of files pertaining to Trump’s old friend and convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in November.
“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.
Hickenlooper and Bennet said the water bill is only the latest act of vindictiveness from a vengeful president however.
“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,” they said. “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.”
The bill, they said has “no measurable increase in federal spending,” and it passed both the Senate and the House with the support of every 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,” they said.
“Projects like the Arkansas Valley Conduit are “too important to fall victim to Trump’s strategic chaos,” they said. “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.”
Read Bennet's and Hickenlooper's full MS NOW op-ed at this link.
