PASSED HOUSE: Congresswoman Lee and Senator Cortez Masto’s Help Hoover Dam Act

Yesterday, the bipartisan, bicameral Help Hoover Dam Act introduced by Congresswoman Susie Lee(NV-03) and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) passed the U.S. House of Representatives. 

“The Hoover Dam is as much a wonder of the West today — for the power, water, and recreational opportunities that it continues to provide — as it was when it first became part of the Nevada landscape 90 years ago. With maintenance needs mounting as the dam approaches its centennial, my common-sense legislation will cut through federal red tape and free tens of millions of dollars in long-stranded funding for Hoover Dam capital improvement projects,” said Congresswoman Susie Lee, lead House sponsor of the Help Hoover Dam Act. “This is government efficiency — keeping energy prices from going up, protecting our natural resources, and saving taxpayers money. I urge the Administration to release this funding in support of an American icon.”

“The Hoover Dam generates power for hundreds of thousands of homes throughout the Southwest,” said Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, lead Senate sponsor of the Help Hoover Dam Act. “Currently, $50 million in funding is sitting unused, when it should be put to work improving the dam and making its energy production sustainable for future generations of Nevadans. Congresswoman Lee and I won’t stop fighting until this bipartisan, bicameral legislation is signed into law.”

The legislation allows the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) — which testified in support of the bill during the 118^th Congress — to access about $50 million in long-stranded funds for Hoover Dam operations, maintenance, and improvement projects. Representatives Mark Amodei (NV-02), Greg Stanton (AZ-04), and Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06) co-led this legislation in the House. 

Reclamation has estimated that the nearly century-old Hoover Dam will require more than $200 million in major plant investment over and above routine operation and maintenance during the next decade. Constructed in the 1930s, the dam generates hydroelectric power for 1.3 million people across Nevada, Arizona, and California each year. Lake Mead, the dam’s reservoir, supplies water to 25 million people and serves as the focal point of America’s first and largest National Recreation Area.

The Help Hoover Dam Act will:

• Invest upwards of $50 million in the Hoover Dam, utilizing existing funding collected from Hoover hydropower contractors over the last 25 years — helping save taxpayer dollars, prevent energy prices from going up, and protect Western water and other natural resources.
• Give the Bureau of Reclamation clear authority to recover these previously stranded funds from an orphaned federal account, as well as partner with Hoover hydropower contractors to pay for authorized activities — including operations, maintenance, capital improvements, and clean-up actions — at Hoover Dam and lands connected to the dam.

The Help Hoover Dam Act now moves to the Senate for further consideration as part of the Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act, 2026. 

The Help Hoover Dam Act is 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.

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