Republicans Gear Up to Rally Against Trump in Rare Rebukes

The House of Representatives is scheduled to hold two votes on Thursday to override President Donald Trump’s vetoes, a rare move seen as a rebuke of the president by members of his own party.

One of the bills, introduced by Trump supporter Representative Lauren Boebert, concerns water infrastructure projects aimed at providing drinking water to eastern Colorado.

Politico reported on Monday that a vote was scheduled to override Trump’s veto of this bill.

After the president vetoed the bill late last year, stating that his administration was committed to preventing taxpayer money from being spent on “costly and unreliable policies,” Boebert tweeted on X: “It’s not over.”

This is the latest statement from the conservative congresswoman, who has demonstrated in recent months a willingness to defy the president, notably by being among the few Republicans who signed a petition to force a vote on the Epstein case.

The second veto override vote, scheduled for later this week, concerns a bill designed to protect the Mikosukee tribe from flooding. This tribe had filed a lawsuit last year regarding the migrant detention center nicknamed “the Alcatraz of crocodiles.”

This bill was introduced by a bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers, but Trump justified his opposition by claiming that the tribe was seeking to “obstruct reasonable immigration policies.”

Both bills had already been passed by the Republican-controlled House and Senate before being sent to the president for his signature. These were the first two bills that Trump vetoed during his second term.

Politico indicated that it is difficult to predict whether either of these bills will garner enough support in the Senate to override the veto. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on a bill to extend for three years the Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year.

This vote is scheduled after four Republicans defied House Republican leadership late last year by signing a petition to force a vote. Even if the bill passes the House, its fate in the Senate remains uncertain, given the soaring health insurance costs for millions of Americans at the start of the year.

This vote could nevertheless be the first of a series of challenges for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is facing a midterm election year with a narrow majority and growing discontent within his own party.