House panel presses Army Corps on slow project delivery, $78 billion of unmet work

Chairman Collins opened the hearing by urging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to speed project delivery and better manage taxpayer dollars as the committee reviewed implementation of the Water Resources Development Act of 2024 and related programs.

The Corps' top civilian and military leaders acknowledged both the scale of demand and significant delivery problems. "Our current unscheduled rate across the civil works portfolio is 80.1 percent. That's ... unacceptable," Lieutenant General Graham said, describing a pattern of projects running off schedule.

Nut graf: Members pressed leaders from the Corps and the assistant secretary's office on how to turn statutory authorities from WERDA 2024 into on‑the‑ground results for navigation, flood protection and environmental infrastructure. Witnesses pointed to workforce challenges, budget shortfalls and project‑delivery practices as the primary constraints.

Assistant Secretary Adam Tell framed the problem in the context of funding and execution. He told the panel there are roughly $78 billion in projects authorized but not yet appropriated and about $44 billion that has been appropriated but not executed; within that latter total, some $12 billion has been in place for more than five years. Tell said those figures illustrate demand “far outpace[s] the supply.”

Members and witnesses described a mixture of administrative and structural causes: attrition and hiring constraints, project budgeting and sequencing, land‑acquisition timelines, and inconsistent engineering maturity before authorization. Tell said his office will focus on consistency and accountability across the Corps' enterprise — from headquarters to divisions and districts — and on reducing regulatory burdens where lawful. He told the committee his team has issued interim guidance on Clean Water Act jurisdiction consistent with the Supreme Court Sackett decision and has revised NEPA implementing procedures to streamline environmental reviews.

Graham said the Corps is pursuing three internal reforms: (1) mature project engineering before seeking authorization (he cited a typical design readiness of ~35 percent as helpful), (2) stronger project management with fully resourced, realistic schedules, and (3) assembling the right mix of in‑house and private‑sector talent to execute projects.

Members repeatedly warned that the president's FY2026 proposal — described in the hearing as a 24–27 percent reduction to core funding in various statements — would make it harder to close the backlog and maintain federally authorized harbor channels. Representative Larson pressed the witnesses to explain how the administration's proposed reductions square with the backlog of authorized but unfunded work. Tell replied the Corps must both pursue greater efficiency and seek robust, predictable funding from Congress.

Ending: Both witnesses committed to deliver further details to the committee — including work plans and follow‑up on studies and force structure — and to collaborate with members seeking faster implementation of WERDA 2024 provisions. The committee requested written follow‑ups and said the record would remain open for additional submissions.