House Democrats teed off at a hearing Wednesday on a Trump administration policy that restricts the Army Corps of Engineers’ communication with Congress, saying it could hobble the development next year of a major water infrastructure bill.
The Department of Defense has been requiring its officials since October to get the approval of its legislative affairs office before talking to members of Congress, their staffs and state elected officials. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s policy applies to the Army Corps, which oversees the construction, operation and repairs of dams, levees, shipping channels and environmental restoration projects.
“It’s a ridiculous policy,” said Washington Rep. Rick Larsen, the top Democrat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “Are the Corps of Engineers’ folks supposed to run screaming away like rats when my staff approaches them in a room to ask for help, in order to get culverts cleared out, in order to get dikes inspected or levees inspected?”
Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, added that she has been hearing from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about “delays and denials of sharing even the most basic information about corps projects in members’ districts.”
