IFPTE Shares Water Resources Development Act Priorites and Urges Committees to Advance Compromise Text

This week, IFPTE urged the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee and Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee to reconcile the House-passed bill (h.r. 9497) with the Senate EPW Committee approved bill (S. 4949) and include IFPTE priorities.

IFPTE’s letter explains that,”WRDA is critical legislation for IFPTE members at USACE [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] and for communities nationwide that rely on the resources, supply chains, and economic benefits supported by the nation’s waterways. The bill authorizes new dam safety and flood control programs, inland navigation, projects and feasibility studies, waterway infrastructure operations and maintenance, and a new office focused on drought resilience and water conservation.”

The letter highlights the union’s request for inclusion of language in the House bill that would require the USACE to engage with stakeholders and notify Congress before any chance to regulatory boundaries, language that directs the USACE Inspector General to asses whether USACE park rangers should be designated as inherently governmental, and a sense of Congress that supports the expertise and professionalism of the USACE workforce and calls for a National Academies of Public Administration on workforce needs.

IFPTE also urged inclusion of Senate WRDA language that resumes USACE projects that have been paused or terminated, despite Congress appropriating or authorizing those projects. The IFPTE request also supports provisions from both the House and Senate bills that seek to restore communications between USACE districts and divisions and Congressional offices and Committees. That relationship is key to Congress’s ability to provide accountability and oversight, which has been severely hampered due to an October 2025 gag order preventing USACE components direct engagement with Congress. IFPTE also asks T&I and EPW Committees to include the Senate WRDA language to reauthorize the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which funds critical public health and environmental protection work that states undertake with EPA support.

Read IFPTE’s letter on WRDA here.