S. 843, a bill to amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to authorize the use of funds for certain additional Carey Act projects, and for other purposes

S. 843 would change the eligibility criteria for participating in a program that provides funds to rehabilitate private dams constructed in the early 1900s in the Western United States. Specifically, the bill would allow dams with estimated rehabilitation costs under the $50 million threshold set in current law to be eligible for the program after projects that meet the existing threshold have received funding.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act appropriated $100 million in fiscal year 2022, to remain available until 2026, for the program, which is administered by the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR). The projected cost to rehabilitate LaPrele Dam in Wyoming, the only dam meeting the criteria, is $65 million. CBO projects that the remaining funds will not be spent.

Using information from BOR, CBO expects that two projects in Idaho, the Mackay Dam and Milner Dam, would be eligible to receive funds under S. 843. On that basis, CBO estimates that enacting the bill would increase direct spending by $25 million over the 2023-2033 period to rehabilitate both dams. Funding provided for the program in 2022 was designated as an emergency requirement in keeping with section 4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress), the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2018, and section 251(b) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. In keeping with long-standing practice, the corresponding increase in direct spending under S. 843 would receive the same budgetary treatment.