Passed: Cortez Masto, LEE Legislation to Recover Millions in Unused Funding for Hoover DAM

Washington, D.C. –U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Congresswoman Susie Lee’s (D-Nev.-03) bipartisan, bicameralHelp Hoover Dam Actpassed the Senate as part of the most recent appropriations package.This legislation will allow the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) to access about $50 million in unused, long-stranded funds for Hoover Dam operations, maintenance, and improvement projects. It now heads to President Trump’s desk for his signature.
“For far too long, the Hoover Dam has been unable to use millions of dollars it already has to perform maintenance and improvements,”said Senator Cortez Masto. “That will now change. I’m proud to have worked with Congresswoman Lee to secure the future of the Hoover Dam for generations to come.”
“There are few more iconic symbols of Nevada than the Hoover Dam. With maintenance needs mounting as the dam approaches its centennial, our common-sense legislation will cut through more than 25 years’ worth of federal red tape, freeing tens of millions of dollars in long-stranded funding for Hoover Dam capital improvement projects at no additional cost to taxpayers,”said Congresswoman Susie Lee. “This is government efficiency — keeping energy prices from going up, protecting our natural resources, and saving taxpayers money. I look forward to continuing to work with the Administration to support the Hoover Dam, a testament to American engineering and ingenuity.”
Tens of millions of dollars in the Colorado River Dam Fund have been inaccessible for decades due to bureaucracy, federal red tape, and government inefficiency. 40 million people depend on the Colorado River for water and1.3 millionpeople in Nevada, Arizona, and California depend on the Hoover Dam for electricity.Now that it has become law, theHelp Hoover Dam Actwill support the dam and its powerplant by:
Senator Cortez Masto has been a leader in the Senate working to combat drought and protect water infrastructure. Shefought to deliver $4 billion to combat droughtin the states bordering the Colorado River in theInflation Reduction Actand she helped pass theBipartisan Infrastructure Law,which will continue to make a historic amount of funding available for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements across the country over the next five years. Cortez Masto also passed into law a $450 million competitive grant program forlarge-scale water recycling projectsacross the Western U.S.
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