Appropriators on Jan. 5 released bipartisan, bicameral bill set to fund U.S. Depts. of Interior and Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Land Management.
Congressional appropriators have reached agreement on a spending package that would significantly boost funding for key infrastructure projects and programs while avoiding a looming U.S. government shutdown later this month.
Federal agencies would halt operations Jan. 30 if both chambers were not able to pass legislation before then to keep them open. In November 2025, lawmakers ended the longest government shutdown in history by passing a stopgap measure funding the Depts. of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs, as well as legislative branch programs and military construction through September, the end of fiscal 2026—but funding for other agencies would expire at the end of January.
Appropriators on Jan. 5 released a bipartisan, bicameral “mini-bus” bill intended to fund the U.S. Depts. of Interior and Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Land Management. The bill is a smaller spending package that does not include all 12 federal appropriations bills, known as an omnibus bill, with the alternate format intended to expedite passage.
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) characterized the package as a strong rejection of the Trump administration’s “draconian” cuts. The Energy and Water Development measure would provide $10.44 billion for the Corps of Engineers—$1.75 billion over 2025 enacted levels and $3.8 billion above the administration’s request. The bill would increase spending for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund by $702 million to $3.473 billion for dredging ports, maintaining waterways across the U.S. and funding inland waterway navigation projects.
The bill reverses President Donald Trump’s proposed plan to zero out funding for critical solar, wind and hydrogen research programs at the Energy Dept. and would provide $7.38 billion for federal environmental cleanups of former defense sites, compared to just $1.6 billion he requested earlier this year.
The Interior/EPA bill would bump up funding for the state revolving fund loan program to $2.76 billion, the same as fiscal 2025 enacted levels—but $2.46 billion above the amount requested by the administration and $660 million more than the version of the bill that passed the House Appropriations Committee in July 2025.
“Passing these bills will help ensure that Congress, not President Trump and [OMB Director] Russ Vought, decides how taxpayer dollars are spent—by once again providing hundreds of detailed spending directives and reasserting congressional control over these incredibly important spending decisions,” Murray said. “It is so important we pass full-year funding bills again and refuse to cede power to this administration.”
House leaders were attempting on Jan. 6 to shore up support for the mini-bus package to be able to vote on the measure later in the week. In a statement, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said, “House Republicans will advance the next set of [fiscal] 26 funding bills and build momentum toward completing the annual appropriations process without a bloated omnibus bill.”
House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said the package will fund “critical community projects nationwide, along with investments in water infrastructure, ports and flood control that protect localities and keep commerce moving.”
Alex Etchen, vice president of government affairs for the Associated General Contractors of America, told ENR it is likely, although not guaranteed, that the spending package will pass and become law. “I think the hangover from the largest government shutdown in history is still very fresh on both parties’ minds,” he said. “Congressional leadership from both sides of the aisle say that nobody ever really wins from a government shutdown.”
