Bill expands federal water programs in western states and includes tribes.
S. 5402 — Western Water Reinvestment Act · Filed by Ron Wyden (D-OR) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Sep 15, 2026 · Hearing held
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What it does
The bill gives more money to water work and nature restoration in western states. It creates a new program that pays farmers to keep land for waterbirds. It sets up drought plans for fish. It makes environmental review faster for water projects. It extends a river work group in Oregon through 2032.
Who it affects
Farmers, tribes, water companies, and federal offices benefit from the bill. Tribes gain more say in watershed and fish programs.
One thing to notice
The bill speeds up environmental review by reducing public comment needs. The waterbird program pays farmers with few rules, which may pay for work they would do anyway.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Sep 15, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 15, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources”
- Sep 16, 2026 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearings held”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- nature restoration — Work to bring back natural areas and wildlife to damaged land.
- watershed — An area of land where all water drains into one river or stream.
- environmental review — A check to see how a project might harm nature and the land.
- federal — Run by the U.S. government, not by a state or city.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (18,042 characters) on Oct 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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 2026-10-20.
“Bill expands federal water programs in western states and includes tribes.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5402/simple Report an error
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