EPW Democrats Blast Administration’s Partisan Retaliation in Army Corps Funding, Warn of WRDA Fallout

Following the Trump Administration's weaponized pause of $11 billion in Army Corps water projects in blue states, Committee Democrats warn the move could derail Water Resources Development Act negotiations

Washington, D.C. - Senator Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, led all Democratic Committee Members in condemning the Trump Administration's illegal weaponization of Army Corps of Engineers funding and calling on Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle to defend the agency against efforts to weaponize its important work for partisan purposes.

The letter follows Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought's social media announcement on October 17, 2025, that the Army Corps would immediately pause-and potentially cancel-$11 billion in water infrastructure, flood control, and environmental restoration projects in states that did not vote for President Trump in the 2024 election. Director Vought reclassified essential infrastructure work funded by Congress as "lower-priority" projects in California, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Oregon, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Colorado.

"This shortsighted attempt to strongarm Democratic lawmakers implodes longstanding foundations of unbiased decision making in the execution of the Corps' civil works program, threatens to undermine the bipartisan support necessary to advance the Water Resources Development Act, and ultimately will hurt red and blue states alike," wrote the EPW Committee Democrats.

The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) is the primary authorizing legislation for civil works studies, projects, and programs carried out by the Corps. Since 2014, Congress has enacted a WRDA on a biennial basis, with Congress due to take up a bill next year. Trump's political retaliation threatens to derail the traditionally bipartisan negotiations.

"[P]laying partisan political games with funding for Corps projects will erode longstanding, bipartisan support for the Water Resources Development Act and compromise the Senate's ability to pass the bill. The Administration will have to answer to Republican lawmakers and the President's voters when, for example, Tennessee's Chickamauga Lock replacement cannot be completed because Congress has not raised the maximum project cost limit," warned the Senators.

While the Corps has declined to provide further details to the Committee, OMB talking points revealed a plan to "reorient" how the federal government prioritizes Corps projects "based [not] on any objective criteria but for the sole purpose of exacting partisan political retribution."

Although residents of the targeted states will feel the hardship most immediately, damage from the funding withdrawals will cascade nationwide and jeopardize the entire U.S. economy.

"The projects under review ... include navigation improvements to support two of the top three busiest container ports in the United States, as well as a major hub for the import and export of automobiles and specialized machinery used and produced by Midwest manufacturers," wrote the Senators. "The adverse effects of withdrawing funding for navigation improvements at the Ports of Long Beach, New York and New Jersey, and Baltimore will reverberate far beyond the local economies in southern California, the greater New York metropolitan area, and the Mid-Atlantic region-consumers, farmers, and manufacturers across the nation rely on global trade through these ports to flourish."

Ranking Member Whitehouse previously condemned the Administration's politicization of the Army Corp, affirming that "[t]he American people deserve a President not a mob boss."

Read the letter below. Full text (with footnotes) is available HERE.

Dear Assistant Secretary Telle:

As members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, we write to oppose the Administration's plan to pause or cancel U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects exclusively in blue states. This shortsighted attempt to strongarm Democratic lawmakers implodes longstanding foundations of unbiased decision making in the execution of the Corps' civil works program, threatens to undermine the bipartisan support necessary to advance the Water Resources Development Act, and ultimately will hurt red and blue states alike.

While your office has refused to provide additional information on the plan, the Office of Management and Budget indicates that projects will be paused in an effort to "reorient" how the federal government prioritizes Corps projects. Unilaterally pausing or cancelling the expenditure of funds appropriated for specific projects usurps Congress' constitutional authority to control how the government spends federal dollars. Worse still, OMB's talking points reveal that the Administration plans to reorient priorities not based on any objective criteria but for the sole purpose of exacting partisan political retribution.

The list of states with projects under review-California, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Oregon, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Colorado-includes no state that voted for the President in the 2024 election. The Administration asserts that the Corps "shouldn't be funding" projects to replace bridges in Massachusetts, provide fish passage facilities at Corps dams, or build wastewater treatment facilities in New York. Yet, at the same time, the Corps is proceeding with projects to replace a bridge over Tenkiller Dam in Oklahoma, restore habitat for pallid sturgeon in the Missouri River, and build drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater facilities in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. The projects under review also include navigation improvements to support two of the top three busiest container ports in the United States, as well as a major hub for the import and export of automobiles and specialized machinery used and produced by Midwest manufacturers. Given the importance of these ports to the overall U.S. economy, the only explanation for designating the projects as "lower priority" is that they are located in regions represented by Democratic lawmakers.

Democratic jurisdictions may bear the brunt of the acute, direct harm inflicted by these tactics, but ultimately the country as a whole will suffer. The adverse effects of withdrawing funding for navigation improvements at the Ports of Long Beach, New York and New Jersey, and Baltimore will reverberate far beyond the local economies in southern California, the greater New York metropolitan area, and the Mid-Atlantic region-consumers, farmers, and manufacturers across the nation rely on global trade through these ports to flourish. Further, playing partisan political games with funding for Corps projects will erode longstanding, bipartisan support for the Water Resources Development Act and compromise the Senate's ability to pass the bill. The Administration will have to answer to Republican lawmakers and the President's voters when, for example, Tennessee's Chickamauga Lock replacement cannot be completed because Congress has not raised the maximum project cost limit.

As you oversee the Corps' operations, we strongly urge you to defend your agency against politically biased decision making. Thank you for your attention to these concerns.