Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) Robyn Colosimo testifies Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies hearing in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — An Army Corps of Engineers official denied Wednesday that the agency’s 2025 work plans had been politicized as Democrats accused President Donald Trump’s administration of shifting construction funds away from Democratic-led states to Republican-led ones.
Two-thirds of Army Corps construction funding for civil works is going to red states under the plans, marking a notable change from former President Joe Biden’s budget request and appropriations bills drafted by both the House and Senate, which had split the funds roughly 50-50.
Robyn Colosimo, the senior official performing the duties of principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, told lawmakers on a House Appropriations subcommittee that she did not believe the decision to reassign funds was politically motivated.
“They had to make trade-offs that I was not privy to — I don’t believe they were partisan, but that’s their decision,” she said, adding that projects were prioritized based on “life, safety, flooding and American prosperity.”
But Democrats charged that the redirection of funds was deliberate and intended to punish states for the way their residents voted.
“I find your testimony to be completely unbelievable,” Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., told Colosimo. California saw its expected Army Corps construction funding reduced from the $125 million outlined in Biden’s budget request and congressional appropriations bills to zero.
The Army Corps’ work plans shifted more than $250 million from states such as California and Washington to Republican-led states, according to data compiled by the Democratic staff of the Senate and House appropriations committees.
Red states are receiving about $1.2 billion for construction projects — almost 30% more than Biden had requested — and blue states are getting less than $600 million — about half of what they would have received under Congress’s appropriations bills.
The funding shift was made possible by a full-year continuing resolution Congress passed in March that kept government funding largely at 2024 levels for the remainder of the 2025 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
The stopgap spending measure did not include earmarks for projects in lawmakers’ districts and states or specific instructions on how the Army Corps must spend its construction money, giving the administration wide discretion over the funds.
Democrats had warned that the bill would let the administration pick which Army Corps, transit and military construction projects would move ahead or grind to a halt and now say their fears are coming true.
“President Trump has unilaterally chosen to punish the people living in certain states — a historic and clear abuse of taxpayer dollars,” Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, said in a statement last week.
Kaptur on Wednesday continued to condemn “the extreme politicization” of Army Corps’ construction funding decisions and said they were another reminder that “Congress must reclaim its authority over funding decisions” by passing full-year funding bills.
Around 37,000 civilians and soldiers work for the Army Corps. Army Corps assignments can range from constructing military facilities, developing technology for troops, dredging waterways, devising infrastructure to reduce risk from disasters and cleaning contaminated sites.
