MATCH Act of 2025
Key claim: States, tribes, and local governments could start certain emergency watershed repairs after disasters before signing a USDA contract, and still count those costs toward their required share of the project.
Abstract
(HR5781 · 119th Congress) Making Access To Cleanup Happen Act of 2025 or the MATCH Act of 2025 This bill modifies the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program to allow sponsors (i.e., states, local governments, and Indian tribes) to undertake certain emergency watershed protection measures prior to entering into a project agreement with USDA and count the costs as part of the sponsor’s share of the project cost once an agreement with USDA is in place. As background, USDA’s EWP Program offers assistance to sponsors to carry out projects that help safeguard people and property from floods, drought, fires, windstorms, and other natural disasters that impair a watershed. This bill requires USDA to identify a list of emergency watershed protection measures that a sponsor may incur costs for prior to entering into a project agreement with USDA under the EWP Program. USDA must develop a procedure, to be implemented at the state level, through which these entities may request additional emergency watershed protection measures. The cost of undertaking these additional measures may be incurred by a sponsor prior to entering into an agreement with USDA. Further, USDA must consider pre-agreement costs incurred by a sponsor for undertaking the emergency watershed protection measures as meeting part of a sponsor’s contribution towards the project costs. Latest action (2025-12-02): Referred to the Subcommittee on Conservation, Research, and Biotechnology.
Why this matters
Emergency watershed repairs — levee stabilization, debris removal, streambank protection after floods or wildfires — are often time-sensitive, but local sponsors have had to wait for a signed USDA agreement before incurring reimbursable costs. By letting pre-agreement spending count toward the required local match, the MATCH Act could speed recovery for rural communities and tribes while leaving overall EWP funding and eligibility unchanged.