What to Watch as Congress Takes Up WRDA 2026

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to mark up its version of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2026 this morning, kicking off one of Congress's most consistently bipartisan infrastructure efforts. The timing is particularly noteworthy: just one day before the House markup, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released the Senate's bipartisan WRDA proposal, setting the stage for both chambers to advance legislation simultaneously.

Read the House’s Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute here.

Read the Senate’s draft bill here.

Congress has traditionally reauthorized WRDA every two years to provide policy direction and authorize new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers feasibility studies, construction projects, and programmatic reforms. While the legislation itself does not appropriate funding, it establishes the Corps' future project pipeline and often serves as a vehicle for broader water infrastructure policy changes.

The House committee is expected to advance its bill with broad bipartisan support, continuing a long-standing tradition of cooperation on water infrastructure. Members are likely to highlight locally significant projects involving ports, inland waterways, flood protection, ecosystem restoration, and coastal resilience. As with previous WRDA markups, amendments will likely focus on district-specific project authorizations and technical changes rather than fundamentally altering the legislation.

Even so, the release of the Senate bill provides an early glimpse into issues that could become central during House-Senate negotiations later this year.

While both bills authorize new Corps studies and construction projects, the Senate proposal reaches considerably further. In addition to authorizing eight new Corps projects focused on flood risk reduction, ecosystem restoration, navigation improvements, and port infrastructure, the Senate legislation reauthorizes federal drinking water and wastewater programs, extends EPA ecosystem restoration initiatives for the Great Lakes, Long Island Sound, and other regions, and directs EPA to revise regulations governing Class VI carbon dioxide sequestration wells by exempting aquifers that are not used as sources of drinking water.

Perhaps the most consequential policy provision in the Senate bill is its response to recent disputes between Congress and the Administration over implementation of previously authorized Corps projects. The legislation would explicitly prohibit the Corps from pausing, terminating, or deferring congressionally authorized projects or studies. It would also establish ongoing congressional oversight by requiring implementation briefings within 180 days of enactment and every 90 days thereafter until congressional leadership determines that current and prior WRDA provisions have been fully implemented.

The Senate proposal also places greater emphasis on nonstructural approaches to flood mitigation, including home elevations, voluntary buyouts, and other resilience measures, while creating an EPA pilot program to provide drinking water filters to communities experiencing elevated levels of PFAS contamination.

These broader policy provisions are absent (or significantly narrower) in the House legislation, making them likely subjects for negotiation if both chambers pass their respective bills.

For stakeholders, this week's House markup should be viewed as the beginning, rather than the conclusion, of the legislative process. Organizations involved in navigation, flood control, ecosystem restoration, water utilities, ports, local governments, and environmental policy should closely monitor not only amendments adopted during the committee markup but also how the House bill compares to the Senate proposal.

If both committees approve their legislation as expected, attention will quickly shift toward House and Senate floor consideration before negotiators reconcile the two versions later this year. Given WRDA's history of bipartisan enactment, final passage remains likely, but the scope of the final package will largely depend on whether the House embraces some of the broader policy initiatives included in the Senate's proposal or opts to maintain a narrower focus on Corps project authorizations.