The mechanism: Every year, regardless of which party runs Congress, the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill funds the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Civil Works program — the levees, locks, dams, flood-control channels, and harbor/river dredging that keep the Mississippi navigable and the Midwest from flooding. This isn't a one-time stimulus package; it's a base-budget line that survives government shutdowns, election swings, and deficit hawks because members of Congress from both parties have levees and locks in their districts. For FY2026, Congress enacted $10.435 billion for USACE — $1.7 billion above FY2025 enacted levels and nearly $3.8 billion above the administration's own budget request, under P.L. 119-74. That's the pattern: Congress routinely adds to the Corps' budget beyond what the White House asks for, because civil-works money is popular pork that both parties claim credit for. Every dollar of that appropriation eventually becomes a construction contract, and Corps levee, floodwall, and dredging-support contracts are built on a standard fleet: D-6 and D-9 dozers, articulated dump trucks, excavators, scrapers, and land levelers — Caterpillar's bread-and-butter construction line.