Three major water infrastructure projects and a hurricane protection system will be the beneficiaries of the largest earmarks in Congress’ fiscal 2026 spending bills.
When the Senate passes the last of the appropriations bills — which is supposed to happen this week — Republicans and Democrats will have secured more than 8,400 earmarks collectively worth more than $15.7 billion for projects in their home states and districts.
The approval of those earmarks will be a welcome development for lawmakers who have waited nearly two years to secure funding for local initiatives such as road and transit improvements, dam and lock maintenance, wildfire mitigation, and wastewater and sewer projects.
That’s because the earmarks in the fiscal 2026 bills are the first since fiscal 2024. Congress passed a continuing resolution for fiscal 2025 that deprived members of their allocations.
In some cases, the lack of statutory direction in the funding patch allowed the Trump administration to more easily freeze or cancel funds, including for water infrastructure projects led by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Now, lawmakers are making up for lost time and celebrating the massive hauls many of them are about to get.
“My message to [President] Donald Trump: Don’t mess with our water. Don’t mess with our fish,” said Senate Appropriations ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in a speech last week, touting a $190 million earmark she secured for a dam project along with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).
“Just like salmon, I’m never giving up,” Murray said. “We’re going to muscle upstream and get this project and win this fight.”
Lawmakers are set to win many of the earmarks they requested last year, and in some cases two years ago. Republicans — especially senior appropriators — are poised to reap the largest windfalls.
Still, hurdles remain. Some fiscal conservatives have been speaking out about the earmarks. And Democrats want to renegotiate the Homeland Security spending bill after federal agents killed a second person in Minnesota amid protests against the administration’s immigration enforcement actions.
Six fiscal 2026 bills already cleared Congress — including Energy-Water and Interior-Environment — but the Homeland Security measure is packaged with five others that remain pending.
But even if Democrats succeed in isolating the Homeland Security bill, that would only jeopardize a fraction of planned earmarks. There is little appetite for a partial government shutdown.
Army Corps projects win big
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), chair of the House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, will have his name on the largest earmark across all spending bills: a $213 million designation for a long-running Army Corps project at the Chickamauga Lock in Tennessee.
The blockbuster earmark is Fleischmann’s latest major contribution to the lock project. In fiscal 2024, he led all House members in earmarked dollars, including a $236.8 million request for the Chickamauga Lock.
Fleischmann has called it “a critically important project for Tennessee,” and he noted in his fiscal 2026 request that delays have necessitated more funding. The upgrades, he said, will help make cargo transport more efficient — including for the movement of equipment needed to produce nuclear power.
Cantwell and Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee, are set to come away with the $190 million earmark for the Hanson Dam, which would go toward a water storage and fish passage project.
At a press conference just downstream of the dam, Murray said the project is intended to reduce flood risk and support long-term water availability for more than 1 million residents.
The next-largest earmark, also in the compromise Energy-Water bill, would provide $183.8 million for construction at Montgomery Locks and Dam on the Ohio River.
It was requested by Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), as well as Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) and Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.).
Deluzio and Reschenthaler said in their joint request that the locks modernization effort would help boost the region’s economy, support shipping and supply chains, and result in “significant environmental advantages.”
A major hurricane damage mitigation system in coastal Louisiana will benefit from the fourth-largest earmark across all spending bills: $131.5 million.
The earmark for the Morganza to the Gulf project likely benefited from the backing of powerful lawmakers, including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), chair of the Senate’s Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee.
“My approach on the Senate Appropriations Committee is simple,” Kennedy said in a statement. “I won’t ask for a penny more than Louisiana needs, and I won’t take a penny less than Louisiana deserves.”
Money for climate corps, pipelines
The fiscal 2026 funding bills are loaded with thousands of smaller earmarks for a variety of projects.
The vast majority of earmarks in the Interior-Environment bill draw from EPA’s Clean and Drinking Water state revolving funds. Most of them will fund local wastewater, sewage and irrigation projects.
The Labor-HHS-Education bill contains a $1.03 million request from Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) that would go toward a “Climate Corps Fellowship.”
Conservative Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) called out the earmark earlier this month as one that he wanted congressional leaders to consider scrapping.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) was granted a vote on an amendment to remove earmarks from the Labor-HHS-Education bill; it failed easily.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chair of the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, secured a $730,000 earmark to fund job training for renewable energy development in her home state.
The senior appropriator is also getting a $2.5 million request to fund training and equipment for constructing and maintaining pipelines.
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) has secured $11 million for a well-field pipeline project.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) is set to bring home $10 million for a Forest Service ranger station in the White Mountain National Forest.
Even Republicans who consider themselves fiscally conservative and have openly criticized earmarks are set to come away with funding for their districts.
House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) previously blasted a large earmark secured by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Two years ago, he fought to eliminate an earmark for a nonprofit that provided services to LGBTQ+ individuals.
For fiscal 2026, Harris, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, has secured tens of millions of dollars for projects in his home district, including Army Corps maintenance projects, a wastewater treatment plant and a youth crisis center.
