Army Corps gets new power to fund Great Lakes restoration projects
H.R. 10387 — To amend the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 to authorize the Secretary of the Army to carry out additional Great Lakes fishery and ecosystem restoration projects not eligible under current policy of the Department of the Army, and for other purposes. · Filed by Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) · Introduced Sep 15, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to fund Great Lakes fishery and ecosystem restoration projects that would not normally qualify under current policy, with a cap of $20 million in federal spending per project.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is to expand the Army Corps of Engineers' authority to fund Great Lakes ecosystem and fishery restoration projects that fall outside current departmental policy, with a federal spending cap. This is a straightforward environmental restoration measure.
What the text implies
- The bill does not specify which projects are currently ineligible or why; the scope of newly fundable projects depends entirely on how the Army Corps interprets 'not eligible under current policy,' creating potential for inconsistent application.
- The $20M cap applies per project but does not limit the total number of projects that may be funded, potentially opening an indefinite funding stream if multiple projects are approved.
- The amendment does not require environmental review standards, cost-sharing formulas, or performance metrics, leaving implementation details to Army Corps discretion.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill removes a policy barrier that prevented funding for Great Lakes fishery and ecosystem restoration, allowing projects to proceed that serve public environmental and recreational interests. The $20 million cap per project is a reasonable fiscal constraint that does not eliminate the benefit.
Named in the bill
Secretary of the Army, Army Corps of Engineers, Great Lakes, Water Resources Development Act of 2000, Section 506
Where it stands
- Sep 15, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 15, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources and House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Natural…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (283 characters) on Sep 23, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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