“WRDA 2026 makes significant improvements across the country to our inland waterways, ports and harbors, flood protection, and other critical water infrastructure.
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On Its Last Working Day Before the Midterms, the House Passes the Water Resources Development Act 415-9 — the Transportation Chairman Says It Makes "Significant Improvements … to Our Inland Waterways, Ports and Harbors, Flood Protection," and the Top Democrat Calls It "Great News for Ports, Harbors and Inland Waterways"
September 16, 2026
On September 16, 2026 — the same day House Republican leaders cancelled the rest of the week's votes and sent members home until the midterms — the House passed the Water Resources Development Act of 2026 (H.R. 9497) by 415 to 9. WRDA is the biennial reauthorization of the Army Corps of Engineers' civil works program. The 2026 bill authorizes 61 new feasibility studies and 15 new or modified Corps projects covering navigation, flood control and ecosystem restoration, and reauthorizes the EPA's State Revolving Funds for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. The lopsided margin made it one of the few genuinely bipartisan measures to clear the chamber in the seven working days between the summer recess and the midterm adjournment. Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Sam Graves and Ranking Member Rick Larsen both claimed it, and the bill now goes to the Senate.
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“Today's House passage of the Water Resources Development Act of 2026 is great news for ports, harbors and inland waterways in the Pacific Northwest and across the country. … I look forward to working with the Senate to pass a final WRDA 2026 into law.
“The Water Resources and Development Act—or WRDA—just passed through the House of Representatives!