MAGA-aligned Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) co-sponsored a bipartisan bill in December seeking to rework the deal terms for federal funding to finish construction of the Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC), a critical clean drinking water project designed to serve 39 rural communities in Colorado. Boebert’s bill sought to ease the local financial burden of project by extending the repayment timeframe, significantly lowering the interest rate Coloradans paid on the federal loans, and by classifying the AVC construction as a hardship case. (Hardship classification could permit some loan forgiveness in certain future circumstances.)
In December, President Trump vetoed Boebert’s bill — the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, which had passed both the House and Senate unanimously. In a rare moment of dissent, Boebert criticized Trump’s decision, which many viewed as political retaliation against Colorado’s Democratic governor Jared Polis. After the veto, Boebert wrote, “This isn’t over.”
(Note: Boebert said in a statement: “President Trump decided to veto a completely non-controversial, 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.)
Announcing this week that she’s accepted an invitation from the Colorado Water Congress to address the organization’s annual convention, Boebert wrote: “Fighting for clean and reliable water in our district and state is my top legislative priority. I’m so glad to have already delivered tens of millions of dollars in bipartisan water and infrastructure projects to Colorado during my time in Congress, and I have no plans to slow down. The best is yet to come!”
Thank you to the Colorado Water Congress for inviting me to address your Annual Convention once again this week!
Fighting for clean and reliable water in our district and state is my top legislative priority. I’m so glad to have already delivered tens of millions of dollars in… pic.twitter.com/OKSIX02vxt
— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) February 5, 2026
9News TV reporter Kyle Clark responded to Boebert’s new claims, as seen below, and wrote: “GOP Rep Lauren Boebert is again claiming credit for spending projects in her district after voting against them. In 2024, she told me she’d vote no even if she was the deciding vote.”
GOP Rep Lauren Boebert is again claiming credit for spending projects in her district after voting against them. In 2024, she told me she’d vote no even if she was the deciding vote. pic.twitter.com/8tLJAZfTWz
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) February 6, 2026
Note: In 2024, after Boebert shared a photograph on X of herself with a Glenwood Springs City Councilor and wrote, “We have secured over $51.4 million for the South Bridge,” then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg noted that Boebert, in 2021, voted against the Biden-era legislation which provided the funding.
Boebert didn’t deny voting against Biden’s infrastructure package but rather claimed “infrastructure grants have been doled out by administrations on both sides for decades so don’t act like you are the sole provider of this funding.” (Note: The South Bridge project was primarily funded by a $49.68 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation and Boebert sent a letter to Buttigieg in 2022 voicing her strong support of the project.)
Construction on the Arkansas Valley Conduit began in 2023 with funding that will last, experts say, long enough to complete half of the project if the terms aren’t altered. Bill Long, president of the board for the Southeastern Water Conservancy District, told The Colorado Sun that “it’s when we get to the second half of the project where it will be challenging to build and repay our portion of the debt” without the Boebert legislation. Congress did not opt to attempt to override Trump’s veto.