Senator Murray Slams Trump Administration’s Politicization of Water Resources, Proposal to Gut Investments in America’s Waterways, Flood and Drought Prevention
***WATCH AND READ: Senator Murray’s opening remarks***
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s questioning***
Washington, D.C. — Today, at a Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee hearing on the fiscal year 2026 budget request for the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, slammed the Trump administration’s politicization of water resources and proposal to gut investments in the Corps and Bureau.
Senator Murray questioned witnesses D. Lee Forsgren, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works); Lt. Gen. William H. Graham, Jr., Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and Scott J. Cameron, Acting Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, Department of Interior, on the Trump administration threatening the Howard Hanson Dam project in Washington state, not meeting funding targets for donor ports like the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma, and putting the Columbia River Treaty with Canada—which is critical for the entire Pacific Northwest—at risk.
[RANK POLITICIZATION OF ARMY CORPS FUNDING]
Senator Murray began by asking General Graham about President Trump’s flagrant politicization of Army Corps funding—an issue she touched on in her opening remarks—stating: “The Howard Hanson dam project is to address dam safety issues, provide additional water supply, and meet the Corps’ legal obligations by opening up miles of critical salmon habitat—would you agree with that assessment?”
General Graham responded, “Yes. The Howard Hanson project right now is, the one we are working on is primarily is fish passage, to figure out how to get small juvenile fish off of a high head dam which we have never done before, but it is part of a larger project that provides as you said, critical flood risk management and water supply protection to the southeastern part of Seattle.”
“Is it true that the $500 million the project was slated to receive in the FY25 budget—as well as in the House and Senate bills—would have allowed construction to proceed on schedule?” Senator Murray asked General Graham.
General Graham replied, “Yes, that would have allowed us to keep on our current construction schedule.”
Senator Murray said, “Well it’s clear that the Howard Hanson project is shovel ready. And despite that—the Trump Administration seems ready to walk away from that. Everyone needs to understand, turning the Army Corps into a political slush fund sets a very dangerous precedent.”
“In fact, in testimony before the House, a top Army Corps official very explicitly stated that OMB—not the experts at the Corps—called the final shots here. Section 107 has been passed on a bipartisan basis in our bill for the last five years and makes clear that funding should be allocated only to projects determined to be eligible by the Chief of Engineers. But it appears that OMB handed the Corps the final spend plan without consulting you as required,” Senator Murray continued. “The law needs to be followed. So, I am going to ask you, yes or no—were you provided a final spend plan so you could determine all the projects listed were eligible?”
General Graham answered, “We provided our best technical recommendation to the assistant secretary.”
Mr. Forsgren responded, “We provided input through the presidential budget process on that spending plan. We provided technical input on that spending plan.”
“So that you could prove that all of them were eligible, correct?” pressed Senator Murray.
“I don't think eligibility was ever the question,” replied Mr. Forsgren.
Senator Murray replied, “That’s really troubling—and really an example of this Administration that just somehow thinks they are above the law. I’ve got news for Russ Vought—the law applies to him the same as for everybody else. So that is very troubling.”
[DONOR PORT FUNDING]
Senator Murray continued her questioning by discussing the administration’s failure to meet statutory targets for Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) funding for donor ports like the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma—which contribute significantly to the HMTF but have historically received relatively little funding back for harbor maintenance projects. Murray said, “I consistently hear from ports and harbors across the country about how they rely on the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to maintain critical port infrastructure. Now, in April, the Administration issued an Executive Order acknowledging that cargo carriers divert goods to Canada from our donor ports, Seattle and Tacoma, to avoid the Harbor Maintenance Tax—that is really an unfair practice, I have spoken about for years.”
“But this year’s budget request does not even attempt to meet the WRDA [Water Resources Development Act] targets for HMTF donor port funding,” continued Senator Murray. “Even more troubling, in the skinny budget, this administration tries to tell Congress that it is not a federal responsibility to provide those dollars—even though that is one of the explicit purposes Congress passed into law. That is really unacceptable. Donor Port funding has already been determined through the WRDA process and our annual appropriations bills for years. It is extremely frustrating that I have to continue raising this issue year after year to get our ports the fair share they are entitled to under the law.”
Senator Murray asked Mr. Forsgren, “Will you commit to ensure that Donor Ports like Seattle and Tacoma will receive their full, fair share of the HMTF dollars as Congress intended?”
Mr. Forsgren responded, “I will commit to working to ensure that the Harbor Maintenance Fund is used to the maximum extent it possibly can. We understand the Harbor Maintenance Fund is the backbone of the commercial navigation system for our ports and that system has to be able to be functional across all of the nation’s ports. But I will say, there needs to be a primary focus on the principal federal responsibility which is the mainline channels. I will commit to working with you to fully utilize the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund as it is passed into law.”
[COLUMBIA RIVER TREATY]
Finally, Senator Murray emphasized the importance of the Columbia River Treaty for Washington state and the entire Pacific Northwest, and the shared waterway with Canada, “The Columbia River provides habitat for salmon and endangered species, it also irrigates 600,000 acres of farmland, and serves as a marine highway, it also provides electricity to the entire Northwest. And critically, it is also a transboundary waterway shared with Canada. Now, the State Department has been leading efforts to negotiate a modernized Columbia River Treaty—which is really critical to providing certainty for people and businesses across our region who rely on the Columbia River. But this Administration appears committed to doing everything they can now to tank our relationship with our friend and neighbor, Canada. And the key to getting this agreement in place, and all the hard work that has gone into it, was collaboration between all the stakeholders. It is really imperative that as the interim agreement is executed, that that collaboration continues.”
Senator Murray asked Mr. Cameron and Mr. Forsgren, “Will you commit to ensuring that the Corps and Reclamation continue to communicate with tribes and the mid-C public utilities on the operation of the Columbia River System?”
Mr. Forsgren replied, “We certainly commit—we are committed to the treaty, as is reflected in the budget. We are committed to continuing the dialogue necessary to operate and maintain the system.”
“Mr. Cameron?” followed up Senator Murray.
Mr. Cameron said, “Yes Senator, I've already had multiple meetings with stakeholders from throughout the Columbia River basin, including tribes. Conversations are ongoing.”
Senator Murray concluded, “This is really a critical treaty. We need to get it enacted. And again, Canada is not our enemy there, we need to include them.”
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Senator Murray recently led the Washington state and California delegations to call out President Trump’s outrageous, nakedly-political decision to zero out critical funding for Army Corps of Engineers construction projects in blue states like Washington and California while steering hundreds of millions more to red states. Supporting the Howard Hanson Dam has been a longtime priority for Senator Murray, and she has pressed the Army Corps to prioritize funding for the Dam for years. Under the last administration, Senator Murray was able to secure critical funding boosts for Howard Hanson Dam, including $220 million in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and $50 million to begin construction of a new facility in the funding bills for fiscal year 2024 that Murray wrote as then-Chair of the Appropriations Committee. Back in 2010, Murray secured $44 million in badly needed emergency funds for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to repair the Howard Hanson Dam. In the draft fiscal year 2025 appropriations bill she cleared unanimously out of Committee last year, Senator Murray secured $500 million for the dam, which would support fish passage and address dam safety and water supply issues for cities like Tacoma and Covington. $500 million was also included in the House’s draft fiscal year 2025 appropriations bill. The funding is needed to execute a construction option on the contract for the project, which would have allowed construction to begin in 2026 as scheduled.
Congress typically provides specific, detailed instructions in its annual appropriations bills on how the Army Corps (and so many other agencies) must spend funding provided by Congress. Annual appropriations bills note exactly what Army Corps projects must be funded and at what levels. But instead of working with Democrats to pass full-year appropriations bills that deliver for communities across America, Republicans in Congress put forth a yearlong continuing resolution (CR) that failed to include hundreds of specific directives on how funding must be spent. For months, Senator Murray warned of the dangers of passing Republicans’ slush fund CR, noting, for example, that it would allow the administration to zero out funding for Army Corps projects.
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