The House of Representatives is prepared to take up votes that will override two of President Donald Trump’s vetoes on Thursday, which will test whether Republicans can and will break from the president’s agenda.
In the first two vetoes of his second term, Trump rejected the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, which affects Colorado, and the Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act, which affects Florida. The president said he rejected the Colorado bill to curtail “taxpayer handouts” and vetoed the Florida bill because it benefits “special interests.”
But the House is likely to pass an override of Trump’s veto with bipartisan support, particularly as the members of the Colorado delegation have been vocal in their displeasure about the president’s decision.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) led the charge last week, accusing the president of vetoing the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act as a form of “political retaliation” for her support of releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Other members of the Colorado delegation said they would vote for the veto override of the Colorado bill. Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-CO) is actively whipping members of the GOP to vote for the override, the Washington Examiner confirmed.
Rep. Jeff Crank (R-CO) said he’d vote for the override because he believes the “projects are valuable.”
“I respect the president’s decision, but I don’t think that all of the information was out there,” Crank said.
Leadership is not whipping, or encouraging members, to vote one way or the other on the vetoes.
“We don’t whip against those kind of votes,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) told reporters.
A source close to Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) said he is likely to support the override, given that he voted for the Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act.
Other Florida House Republicans are either against the veto or undecided about how they’ll vote.
Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) said he plans to vote against both veto overrides. When asked why, he said, “I support the president.”
Rep. Aaron Beam (R-FL) said his legislative team met with the White House on Wednesday, and he hasn’t made a final decision on how he’ll vote for either veto override. But he did note the Florida bill is “closer to home.”
“I give great deference to the president,” Beam said. “So there’s gotta be compelling evidence to go against him.”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) said she is also undecided how she’ll vote. She said she hasn’t spoken with the president on the Florida bill.
“Although ultimately, I have to weigh how my constituents feel about it more than anything, but I obviously want to see his opinion on it, as well,” Luna said.
The vetoes are also receiving mixed support from other members of the Republican conference who don’t have a delegation connection to the bills.
Both Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Don Bacon (R-NE) said they’ll vote yes to overturn the vetoes on both bills. Bacon pointed out that both were passed unanimously.
“I’m gonna support our Republican colleagues in Colorado,” Bacon told the Washington Examiner. “This is very important to them, and it passed unanimously, so I do plan on voting yes.”
Other Republicans aren’t so sure that they want to override a veto from Trump. Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) said that the Colorado bill passed on a voice vote, meaning a recorded floor vote was not taken.
“My understanding is there’s some cost to it, which is going to make it controversial to pass,” McCormick told the Washington Examiner. “It only benefits Colorado, which makes it even more controversial.”
“So we’ll take a hard look at it, because I’m looking at the minutia. Obviously, we like to support other Republican bills, but if it’s at a cost, and only from one state, I’m not a real big fan of those sort of bills,” he added.
Both Crank and McCormick said they weren’t as familiar with the Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act and were unsure how they would vote. The bill would have added a small village called the Osceola Camp to the section of the Florida Everglades controlled by the Miccosukee Native American tribe. The president accused the tribe of not complying with his immigration policies when defending his veto.
Throughout history, Congress has overridden 112 vetoes. The last time a president’s veto was overridden was in January 2021, against Trump in the final days of his first term, when they nixed his veto of the annual National Defense Authorization Act. Before then, it was in 2016 under the Obama administration on a bill allowing 9/11 families to sue Saudi Arabia.
While the House is likely to overturn at least one, if not both, of the vetoes with bipartisan support, eyes will be on the Senate to see whether they can get the necessary two-thirds vote to complete the overrides.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told reporters he hasn’t decided on whether he’ll vote to override the veto on the Florida bill, saying he’ll “deal with it when it comes up.”
“I’ve talked to the president about it,” Scott said. “I mean, he has concerns about it. I think we ought to address his concerns.”
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) told the Washington Examiner he will “definitely try to do everything I can” to convince his Senate GOP colleagues to support the veto override of the Colorado bill.
If Congress is successfully able to overturn Trump’s vetoes on the Colorado and Florida bills, it will be eerily similar to his first term: the override of a veto in the aftermath of a government shutdown. The government shutdown from October to November 2025 broke the 2021 shutdown’s record as the longest in U.S. history at 43 days.
The veto overrides on Thursday come as the House also prepares for a final passage vote on a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies. The House voted to take up a measure extending the subsidies on Wednesday, with the help of nine Republicans: Lawler and Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Nick LaLota (R-NY), Tom Kean (R-NJ), David Valadao (R-CA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Rob Bresnahan (R-PA), Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA), and Max Miller (R-OH).
David Sivak and Lauren Green contributed to this report.