By Nolan D. McCaskill
WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday fell short of the high threshold needed to overturn two vetoes by President Donald Trump, though dozens of Republicans voted with Democrats in a rare split between the Republican president and his allies in Congress.
The votes to overturn the presidential vetoes were an unusual challenge from the Republican-controlled Congress, which has largely backed Trump during his first year in office as he has canceled billions of dollars in spending, hiked tariffs and taken action in other areas that are usually handled on Capitol Hill.
Last month, Trump vetoed a $1.3 billion drinking-water project in Colorado, saying the local community should fund it, and a $14 million project in the Everglades National Park that would have benefited the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.
Both projects had passed Congress unanimously, but the House did not clear the two-thirds supermajority needed to override Trump’s veto.
Colorado Democrats accused Trump of using the veto to punish the state for imprisoning Tina Peters, a former election official found guilty of tampering with voting machines in the 2020 presidential election.
In a letter, Republican and Democratic lawmakers from Colorado warned “no bill is safe” if Congress allows Trump’s veto to stand.
Trump vetoed 10 bills in his first term as president. Congress only overrode one veto.
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Lisa Shumaker and Cynthia Osterman)
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