Washington Report – August 3, 2026

Aug. 3, 2026

**Due to the scheduled Congressional August recess, the next issue of the Washington Report will be published Aug. 17. For regular updates, follow APWA Government Affairs on X and LinkedIn.

Latest News

Senate CR Vote Expected this Week

Over the weekend, Senate appropriators reached agreement on a continuing resolution (CR) to fully fund the federal government to Dec. 11; the House CR passed 2-weeks ago is set to expire Dec. 4;
The Senate CR:
- Authorizes the National Flood Insurance Program
- Authorizes amounts made available for Wildland Fire Management and the Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund at the Departments of Agriculture and Interior to be apportioned at a rate necessary to continue to fight wildfires
- Permits amounts made available to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) to be apportioned at a rate necessary to carry out response and recovery activities under the Stafford Act
Included in the agreement is an extension for surface transportation programs, which are set to expire Sept. 30 when the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ends;
Advance appropriations, which are part of IIJA, are not part of the CR, and therefore, would amount to a funding cut to some transportation programs;
APWA has been pushing Congress to complete a new transportation bill before IIJA expires and at a funding level to at least the level of that 5-year law;
APWA recently joined 61 other state and local organizations, and industry groups urging Congress to complete a new surface transportation bill, or as part of a CR preserve FY 2026 funding levels and advance appropriations;
The Senate CR also includes a temporary halt to the enactment of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposed changes to centralize the federal grant application process, apply new criteria and standards to grants, and introduce enhanced pre-issuance and risk assessment reviews;
APWA submitted comments to OMB on the proposed changes;
The Senate is set to recess Aug. 7.

Roadshow Heading to South Dakota

The next stop of the nationwide Engineering & Public Works Roadshow will be Wednesday, Aug. 12, at the Watertown, SD, Prairie Lakes Arena;
A 2025 winner of APWA’s Small Cities/Rural Counties Top Project Award, the arena is world-renowned facility, drawing players from every corner of the globe to practice and play;
Featuring two sheets of ice and state of the art energy-efficient lighting and HVAC systems, the project is a sterling example of how public works and economic development go hand in hand;
APWA Board member and Region VI Director Bill Stogsdill will represent the association, with Government Affairs Specialist Jeff Finegan also in attendance.

Labor Secretary Nomination Advances to Senate Floor

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee advanced the nomination of acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling out of committee;
Sonderling’s nod will now move to the full Senate for a final confirmation vote.

Federal Transit Administration Announces NOFO

$10M is available for the FY26 Bus Safety, Accessibility, and Innovation Research Program through the FTA;
Completed proposals are due by 11:59 p.m. ET, Sept. 28;
More information on the program and how to apply can be found here.

CISA Warning of Increase in Water Cyber Threats

Following an uptick in cyber threat actors targeting programmable logic controllers (PLCs) in water and wastewater systems, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an advisory urging critical infrastructure owners, operators, and integrators to remove publicly exposed PLCs and other operational technology (OT) from the internet as soon as possible;
CISA, the FBI, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) say threat actors targeting exposed PLCs have modified their passwords to lock out operators and disconnected the PLCs by changing their IP addresses;
CISA has also updated its Primary Mitigations to Reduce Cyber Threats to OT information;
Work with your IT department to ensure you and your organization are maintaining cyber protocols to better safeguard against cyber intrusions malicious;
Contact APWA Sr. Government Affairs Manager Marty Williams at mwilliams@apwa.org with questions regarding available cybersecurity federal resources.

Center for Cross Sector Coordination Releases Post Symposium Report

The Center for Cross Sector Coordination (CXC) released a report following its inaugural symposium in Washington, D.C.;
Highlights of the report:
- Defining challenges for the future of infrastructure security, resilience
- Examining emergency response, cross-sector interdependencies, countering unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)
- Emphasizing how critical infrastructure resilience is increasingly determined by the strength of relationships, the quality of coordination, and the ability to understand dependencies that extend well beyond organizational and sector boundaries
More than 170 leaders representing 16 critical infrastructure sectors participated, June 18;
CXC is designed to foster an industry-led, cross-sector, and operationally focused partnership with the following goals:
- Creating a strong, communicative network of critical-infrastructure owners/operators across all 16 critical infrastructure sectors
- Connecting security practitioners with actionable tools, technologies, strategies to address the most-complex security, resilience challenges
APWA partners with the CXC through membership on their advisory board, of which Sr. Government Affairs Manager Marty Williams is a member.

APWA Members to Deliver Keynotes

APWA members Eric Dundee and Lisa Coleman, from the Madison Sewage District in Wisconsin, will speak at the Water and Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers Association’s Finance and Contract Administration and BABA Workshop tomorrow and Wednesday in Indianapolis;
Click here to register to attend in person or virtually and receive a special APWA member rate.