On September 4, WCI issued a Breaking News on the House floor passage of H.R. 4553 – the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Energy and Water Development (E&WD) appropriations bill by a vote of 214-213. No Democrats voted in favor of the bill, which includes funding requirements for the Corps’ Civil Works mission through September 30, 2026.

The bill included $9.88 billion for the Civil Works program, a record funding level. FY26 House E&WD funding is $1.2 billion above last year’s (FY25) enacted level and provides $396.8 million for construction and major rehabilitation projects on the inland waterways system.

With nearly $400 million for inland waterways construction and major rehabilitation projects, the program received another strong year of funding, with $100 million coming from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. Specifically funded are:

• Chickamauga Lock, Tennessee River, TN – $213 million (requested by Cong. Fleischmann (TN – 03))
• Montgomery Lock and Dam, Upper Ohio River, PA- $183.83 million (requested by Cong. Reschenthaler (PA – 14) and Cong. Deluzio (PA – 17))
• Navigation & Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP) – $2 million, which will go toward ecosystem restoration efforts (requested by Cong. Budzinski (IL-13) and Cong. Sorensen (IL-17))

The two largest earmarks in all 12 appropriations bills went to Chickamauga and Montgomery locks. The inland construction program will continue to need these large earmarks for the next 10 years to ensure success of the construction program in the future. The E&WD bill has always been non-controversial and has enjoyed bipartisan support, but that has changed. Given clean energy credits being stripped out of the bill, for example, bipartisan support has become more strained.