In the News

WASHINGTON —The Biden-Harris Administration today released the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2025. Following historic progress made under the President’s leadership—with over 14 million jobs added since the President took office and inflation down two-thirds from its peak—the Budget protects and builds on this progress with proposals for responsible, pro-growth investments in America and the American people. The President’s Budget will lower costs for the American people, protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare, secure Americans at home and abroad, and reduce the deficit by ensuring the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.

“The Army Civil Works FY 2025 Budget demonstrates this Administration’s ongoing commitment to funding the construction of crucial infrastructure projects across the nation that will strengthen our economy, protect people and property, and restore key ecosystems. This budget provides $79 million for research and development to spur innovation, ensuring we improve our capabilities to assess risk and aggressively confront water resource challenges. This Budget also delivers on the President’s commitments to tackle climate change and promote equity for Tribal Nations and marginalized and rural communities,” said Michael Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.

The Budget makes critical investments in the American people that will promote greater prosperity for decades to come. The Budget invests in the development, management, restoration, and protection of the nation’s water, wetlands, and related resources through studies, construction and operation and maintenance of projects, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regulatory program, and emergency response. For the Army Civil Works program, the Budget will:

• Decrease Climate Risk for Communities and Increase Ecosystem Resilience to Climate Change Based on the Best Available Science. The Budget invests in improving the nation’s water infrastructure, while incorporating climate resilience efforts into the Corps’ commercial navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, and aquatic ecosystem restoration work. The Corps is working to integrate climate preparedness and climate resilience planning in all of its activities, such as by helping communities reduce their potential vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change and variability. The Budget invests in projects and programs that would decrease climate risks facing communities and increase ecosystem resilience to climate change based on the best available science. The FY 2025 Budget provides more than $1.585 billion in the Flood and Coastal Storm Damage Reduction program and also includes funding to continue studies intended to investigate climate resilience along the Great Lakes coast as well as in Central and Southern Florida. The Budget includes $35.5 million for technical and planning assistance programs that will help local communities ― including underserved and overburdened communities ― identify and address their flood risks associated with climate change. The Budget provides nearly $33 million for operation and maintenance activities that are focused on improving climate resilience and/or sustainability at existing Corps-owned projects, nearly $50 million to mitigate for adverse impacts from existing Corps-owned projects, and $28 million to install the necessary refueling infrastructure to support zero-emission vehicles at existing Corps-owned projects. The Budget also provides $51.5 million for emergency preparedness, $11 million above the 2023 enacted level, and $16.5 million to dredge the Lower Mississippi River Main Stem project’s navigation channel, including funds the Corps can use in the event of future low water levels such as those experienced over the last two years.
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• Improve the Nation’s Infrastructure. The Budget invests in operating and maintaining the Corps’ existing infrastructure and improving its reliability. It includes over $4.3 billion for operation and maintenance of Corps-owned and operated infrastructure. The Budget also includes over $264 million for the Sault Ste. Marie (Replacement Lock), Michigan project to provide efficiency and redundancy to an important trade route in the Great Lakes and improves the safety of Corps dam by investing in projects that the Corps has identified as among the highest potential risks to public safety nationwide. The FY 2024 Budget included $350 million for the phased replacement of the Cape Cod Canal bridges, toward a commitment of $600 million. The FY 2025 Budget continues this commitment of the phased replacement of the Sagamore and Bourne bridges by including $5 million for design work of a rehabilitation of the Bourne Bridge.
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• Facilitate Safe, Reliable and Sustainable Commercial Navigation and Strengthen the Supply Chain. The Budget invests over $3 billion for commercial navigation, including projects that facilitate safe, reliable, and environmentally sustainable navigation at the nation’s coastal ports and on the inland waterways. Of this amount, $930 million is for operation and maintenance work on the inland waterways, with an emphasis on investments that will improve the condition of locks and dams and help keep supply chains flowing, and over $1.7 billion is derived from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) for eligible projects with an emphasis on operation and maintenance ― including dredging ― of completed projects. The Budget includes over $1 billion to operate and maintain the top 50 U.S. coastal ports across the nation, which handle around 90% of the waterborne cargo that is shipped to or from the United States in foreign commerce. Within the HMTF total, the Budget includes $186 million for operation and maintenance of Great Lakes projects, $73 million for projects that support access by Tribal Nations to their legally recognized historic fishing areas, and $28 million for construction projects that will accommodate disposal of material dredged from coastal navigation projects. The FY 2025 Budget includes, for the first time, funding for donor and energy transfer ports. Specifically, $60 million from the HMTF will be used by eligible ports for maintenance activities to support commercial navigation.
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• Promote Environmental Justice in Underserved and Overburdened Communities and Tribal Nations in Line with the Justice40 Initiative and Create Good Paying Jobs that Provide the Free and Fair Chance to Join a Union and Collectively Bargain. Through the FY 2025 Budget, the Corps is also committed to securing environmental justice and spurring economic opportunity for communities that have been historically marginalized and overburdened by pollution and are experiencing underinvestment in essential services. The Corps is part of the overall federal effort to ensure that 40% of the benefits of federal climate and clean energy investments will directly benefit underserved and overburdened communities. The Corps contributes to this Justice40 Initiative through its studies and projects and through specific programs, such as the Continuing Authorities Program, Planning Assistance to States, Flood Plain Management Services, and the Tribal Partnership Program. The Corps is committed to achieving the broader goals of the Administration regarding equity and environmental justice and will continue to: 1) improve outreach and access to Civil Works information and resources; 2) improve access to Civil Works technical and planning assistance programs (e.g., the Flood Plain Management Services and Planning Assistance to States programs) and maximize the reach of Civil Works projects to benefit underserved and overburdened communities, in particular as it relates to climate resiliency; and 3) ensure that any updates to Civil Works policies and guidance will not result in a disproportionate negative impact on disadvantaged communities. The Budget invests in 37 studies and in the construction of 18 projects to help tribal communities and communities with environmental justice concerns address their water resources challenges in line with the President’s Justice40 Initiative—including funding for the Tribal Partnership Program.
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• Restore Aquatic Habitat where the Aquatic Ecosystem Structure, Function and Processes Have Degraded. The FY 2025 Budget provides $1.239 billion in the Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration program. The Corps will continue to work with other federal, state, and local agencies, using the best available science and adaptive management to restore degraded ecosystem structure, function, and/or process to a more natural condition. The Budget invests in the restoration of some of the nation’s most unique aquatic ecosystems, such as the Chesapeake Bay, the Upper Mississippi River, the Great Lakes, the Louisiana Coast, and the Everglades. For example, the Budget includes $444 million for the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration (Everglades) program ― which is a $29 million increase compared to the 2024 Budget level. In addition, the Budget supports restoration of Pacific Northwest salmon and steelhead by including $33 million for Albeni Falls Dam, Fish Passage, Idaho, and over $75 million for the Columbia River Fish Mitigation program. The Budget also includes $500 million for Howard A. Hanson Dam, Washington, to allow the Corps to fully fund a construction contract for a fish passage.
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• Invest in Research and Development to Solve the Nation’s Toughest Water Resources Challenges. The Budget provides $79 million for research and development with a focus on innovative solutions that would help achieve significant cost savings in the Army Civil Works program or would address emerging water resources challenges, including climate change. The challenges of today and tomorrow are not like those of yesterday. From droughts and wildfires across the western states, to the increasingly frequent disasters faced by communities across the country, many 21st century water resources challenges are complex and interconnected. For example, the Budget would help reduce the cost to maintain existing water resources infrastructure and improve its reliability, safety, and environmental sustainability – including through more effective water management at certain dams and innovative methods to identify risks to existing infrastructure.

The Budget invests over $7.2 billion in gross discretionary funding for the Army Civil Works program. 

This would be distributed among the appropriations accounts as follows:

• Investigations $110,585,000
• Construction $1,958,370,000
• Operation and Maintenance $2,469,500,000
• Regulatory Program $221,000,000
• Mississippi River and Tributaries $244,834,000
• Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program $200,285,000
• Expenses $231,240,000
• Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies $45,000,000
• Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act $7,000,000
• Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works $6,400,000
• Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund $1,726,000,000

TOTAL $ 7,220,214,000

The Budget funds 22 studies and design, including dam safety studies and dredged material management plans, to completion in the Investigations Account:

Valley Creek, AL (Flood Damage Reduction Riverine); Rio Salado Oeste, Salt River, AZ General Reevaluation Report (Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration); Sacramento River, Yolo Bypass, CA (Flood Damage Reduction Riverine); Hartford and East Hartford, CT (Flood Damage Reduction Riverine); Central and Southern Florida Flood Resiliency Section 216 Study, FL (Flood Damage Reduction Riverine); Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity, LA Hurricane Protection (Flood Damage Reduction Coastal); Boston Metropolitan Area, MA (Flood Damage Reduction Coastal); Wicomico River, MD Dredged Material Management Plan (Navigation); Channels in Lake St. Clair, MI Dredged Material Management Plan (Navigation); Manistee Harbor, MI Dredged Material Management Plan (Navigation); Monroe Harbor, MI Dredged Material Management Plan (Navigation); Muskegon Harbor, MI Dredged Material Management Plan (Navigation); Ontonagon Harbor, MI Dredged Material Management Plan (Navigation); St. Clair River, MI Dredge Material Management Plan (Navigation); Duluth-Superior Harbor, MN and WI Dredged Material Management Plan (Navigation); Huron Harbor, OH Dredged Material Management Plan (Navigation); Arkansas River Corridor, OK (Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration); Kinzua Dam and Allegheny Reservoir, PA Preconstruction Engineering and Design (Flood Damage Reduction Riverine); Little Narragansett Bay, RI (Navigation); Waccamaw River, Horry County, SC (Flood Damage Reduction Riverine); Columbia and Lower Willamette Rivers Below Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR Dredged Material Management Plan (Navigation); and Oconto Harbor, WI Dredged Material Management Plan (Navigation).

The Budget funds two projects to completion in the Construction Account:

Iao Stream Flood Control, Maui, Hawaii (Flood Damage Reduction Riverine), and Pipestem Lake, North Dakota (Flood Damage Reduction Riverine). Additionally, the Budget funds 23 master plans and water control manual updates within the Operation and Maintenance account to completion.

Overall, the President’s Budget for FY 2025 for the Army Civil Works program reflects the Administration’s priorities to strengthen the supply chain and grow the nation’s economy, decrease climate risk for communities and increase ecosystem resilience to climate change based on the best available science, and promote environmental justice in underserved and overburdened communities and Tribal Nations in line with the Justice40 initiative and creating good paying jobs that provide the free and fair chance to join a union and collectively bargain. The FY 2025 Budget investments will work to confront climate change by reducing flood risk and restoring ecosystems. The Corps is working to integrate climate preparedness and climate resilience planning in all of its activities, such as by helping communities reduce their potential vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change and variability.

The Budget builds on the President’s record to date while achieving meaningful deficit reduction through measures that cut wasteful spending and ask the wealthy to pay their fair share.

For more information on the President’s FY 2025 Budget, please visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/. The FY 2025 Civil Works budget press book is available at http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/Budget.aspx.