Lee, Cortez Masto Successfully Release $52 Million in Funding for Hoover Dam
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Susie Lee (NV-03) and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) announced that the Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) released $52 million in funding for the Hoover Dam, as directed by their Help Hoover Dam Act. These long-stranded funds can now be used for Hoover Dam operations, maintenance, and improvement projects, including installing the turbines needed to create hydroelectric power at lower lake depths, which have become necessary due to ongoing drought conditions.
“I’m proud to have worked alongside Senator Cortez Masto to lead and pass common-sense legislation to cut through federal red tape and free tens of millions of dollars in long-stranded funding for Hoover Dam. This is government efficiency — keeping energy prices from going up, protecting our natural resources, and saving taxpayers money. I’m thrilled that, at long last, this funding was released today,” said Congresswoman Susie Lee.
“For decades, millions of federal dollars have been sitting unused while the Hoover Dam is in need of upgrades and repairs,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “My new law has solved that bureaucratic dead-end. Now we can put those dollars to work improving the Hoover Dam, protecting the water and energy supply for over a million Americans.”
The $52 million in funding released by the USBR today had been inaccessible for decades due to federal red tape and government inefficiency. Lee and Cortez Masto jointly introduced the Help Hoover Dam Act to release those funds, and the bill was approved by Congress earlier this year as part of the Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act, 2026.
The Help Hoover Dam Act was endorsed by the American Public Power Association, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the Colorado River Commission of Nevada, the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Nevada Rural Electric Association, the Arizona Power Authority, the Irrigation and Electrical Districts Association of Arizona, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and others. Representatives Mark Amodei (NV-02), Greg Stanton (AZ-04), and Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06) co-led this bipartisan legislation in the House.
Forty million people depend on the Colorado River for water, and 1.3 million people depend on the Hoover Dam for electricity. USBR testified in support of the Help Hoover Dam Act during the 118th Congress, estimating that the nearly century-old dam will require more than $200 million in major investment over and above routine operation and maintenance in advance of its centennial in 2035.
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