YourVoice.Now Summary
EnvironmentTransparency & AccountabilityUSDA would cover 90% of the cost to fix aging flood-control dams, up from 65%, so local sponsors pay less.
Environment
USDA can already pay to fix flood damage on farmland after a disaster. This lets USDA go further and build stronger, longer-lasting protection, if it decides that is a cost-effective way to protect the watershed.
When a local sponsor repairs an aging flood-control dam, the federal government currently covers up to 65% of the cost. This raises the federal share to 90%, so local sponsors would pay less out of pocket.
Projects that rehabilitate aging, unsafe flood-control dams currently must show that at least 20% of their benefit goes to farming or rural communities. This drops that requirement for dam-rehab projects, so more of them could qualify for federal funding.
Transparency & Accountability
USDA would have to research and report on flood risk to farms and ranches nationwide, including crop and livestock losses and flood data by region. The report goes to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees within two years of enactment.
More about this bill
Flood insurance rates, floodplain maps, and home buyouts do not change here. Towns and districts that fix old, unsafe dams would get more help paying for it. The federal share of the repair cost would rise from 65% to 90%. Those dam projects would no longer have to show that at least 20% of the benefit goes to farms or rural areas. USDA could also pay for flood work that goes beyond the basic fix, if that better protects an area over time. Within two years, USDA would have to send Congress a report on flood risk to farms and ranches. It would cover crop and livestock losses, plus flood data by region.
Congressional Summary
Flooding Prevention, Assessment, and Restoration Act This bill expands Department of Agriculture (USDA) watershed programs. Under the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program, the bill allows USDA to undertake certain measures that go beyond addressing the immediate impairment of the watershed. Specifically, USDA may undertake measures that increase the level of protection of the watershed if USDA determines that the restoration is (1) in the best interest of the long-term health and the protection of the watershed from repetitive impairments; and (2) cost-effective and appropriate, given risks to the environment. As background, the EWP Program assists sponsors, landowners, and operators in implementing emergency recovery measures for runoff retardation and erosion prevention to relieve imminent hazards to life and property created by natural disasters. In addition, for Watershed Rehabilitation Program projects, the bill increases the federal cost-share to 90%, from 65%, of the total rehabilitation costs. The Watershed Rehabilitation Program assists project sponsors in rehabilitating aging watershed dams that are reaching the end of their design life or no longer meet federal or state safety criteria or performance standards. The bill also exempts rehabilitation projects under the Watershed Rehabilitation Program from a requirement that specifies that each project must contain benefits directly related to agriculture, including rural communities, that account for at least 20% of the total benefits of the project. USDA must also submit a national agriculture flood vulnerability report to Congress that contains the results of a conservation effects assessment project that studies flood risk on agricultural lands.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-03-05
- Date Added
- 2026-09-19
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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