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.
Congress has shown a hint of independence recently. The Senate advanced legislation on Thursday that would prevent Trump from taking further military action against Venezuela without congressional approval.
The Senate has also rebuffed Trump's calls to change rules that give Democrats some power in that chamber, and lawmakers in both chambers voted overwhelmingly to force his administration to release material related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Still, the House did not clear the two-thirds supermajority needed to override Trump's vetoes of two infrastructure projects: a $1.3 billion drinking-water project in Colorado 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.
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.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers from Colorado warned “no bill is safe” if Congress allows Trump's veto to stand, but some Republicans said they did not want to risk angering Trump.
"What is the upside? For something that's going to benefit one state, why would I go to battle over that and put any bill that I put on the floor in jeopardy?" said Republican Representative Rick McCormick of Georgia.
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, Cynthia Osterman and Deepa Babington)
