Multimedia

Reps. Peter DeFazio and Bill Shuster Discuss the Current State of Congress

Recorded at ACEC's 2026 Convention & Legislative Summit, days before the House T&I Committee was set to mark up the surface transportation reauthorization, two former committee chairmen — Republican Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania and Democrat Peter DeFazio of Oregon — sat down to assess where things stand.

They cover the state of play on the reauth: whether Sam Graves and Rick Larson can get a bipartisan bill to the floor, how leadership dynamics have shifted from the IIJA era, and whether infrastructure still carries the political weight it once did heading into a tight midterm.

On financing, both back vehicle miles traveled as the long-term path — and explain why the privacy objection has largely collapsed among younger voters. DeFazio recounts how the climate provisions in his original IIJA bill cost him Republican votes, and why he needed those same Republicans to ultimately get it passed.

They also make a direct case for earmarks — not as pork, but as the mechanism that lets members fight for their districts.

Key topics:
— Reauthorization timeline and committee dynamics (0:26)
— Sam Graves, Rick Larson, and the bipartisan path forward (1:15)
— VMT tax and the shrinking privacy objection (4:05)
— The IIJA backstory: climate provisions, the Squad, and Republican rescues (6:20)
— The earmarks argument (8:00)

Engineering Influence is the podcast of the ACEC Research Institute.

The River Comes Back to Life | EEA Grand Conceptor Award Winner: McMillen Engineering

What does it take to undo 100 years of harm to one of America's great rivers?

In this episode of Engineering Influence, we sit down with the team winner of ACEC's 2026 Grand Conceptor Award, McMillen Engineering.

McMillen, Inc. earned ACEC's top honor for the Klamath River Renewal Project, the world's largest dam removal and river restoration effort. Once the third-largest salmon-producing river system on the West Coast, the Klamath had been blocked for over a century by four aging hydroelectric dams.

McMillen coordinated among six Tribal nations, more than 21 agencies, and dozens of public, private, and nonprofit partners. They turned decades of division into a unified path forward.

The results speak for themselves: within months of final dam removal, salmon and lamprey returned to upstream reaches not accessed for generations.

Hear how precision engineering, Indigenous-led collaboration, and a bold vision for restoration came together to set a new global standard.

The River Comes Back to Life | EEA Grand Conceptor Award Winner: McMillen Engineering

Source:
https://www.podbean.com/eau/pb-9tbgn-1ae0140

What does it take to undo 100 years of harm to one of America's great rivers? In this episode of Engineering Influence, we sit down with the team winner of ACEC's 2026 Grand Conceptor Award, McMillen Engineering.
McMillen, Inc. earned ACEC's top honor for the Klamath River Renewal Project, the world's largest dam removal and river restoration effort. Once the third-largest salmon-producing river system on the West Coast, the Klamath had been blocked for over a century by four aging hydroelectric dams.
McMillen coordinated among six Tribal nations, more than 21 agencies, and dozens of public, private, and nonprofit partners.
They turned decades of division into a unified path forward. The results speak for themselves: within months of final dam removal, salmon and lamprey returned to upstream reaches not accessed for generations.
Hear how precision engineering, Indigenous-led collaboration, and a bold vision for restoration came together to set a new global standard.

Joe Bates Discusses the Q2 Engineering Business Sentiment Survey

Source:
https://www.podbean.com/eau/pb-83pkv-1ada7a1

In this episode of the Engineering Influence Podcast, we sit down with Joe Bates of the ACEC Research Institute to break down the findings from the Q2 Engineering Business Sentiment Report.
Joe dives into the latest data on how engineering firms are feeling about business conditions, workload, hiring, and the overall economic outlook. Whether you're a firm principal, project manager, or industry observer, this episode delivers the insights you need to understand where the engineering business landscape is headed.
About the ACEC Research Institute: The ACEC Research Institute is the research arm of the American Council of Engineering Companies, dedicated to advancing knowledge and providing data-driven insights for the engineering industry.
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Read the Full Report Here: https://www.acec.org/resource/engineering-business-sentiment-q2-2026/