Bill lets government spend water money on old dams.
S. 1257 — 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. · Filed by James Risch (R-ID) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Apr 2, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill changes a law about spending money on public works. It lets the federal government use money to fix old dams. These dams were built under an 1894 law called the Carey Act. The dams help bring water to farms. The Secretary of the Interior picks which dams get money. Other Carey Act dams must get funded first.
Who it affects
Water districts that run Carey Act dams could benefit. Rural areas and farms that need water could be affected. Building and engineering firms hired to fix dams could get work.
One thing to notice
The bill does not say which dams qualify or how many exist. It does not set a spending limit or deadline. The Secretary can decide, but does not have to tell Congress what was spent.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Apr 2, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Apr 2, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources”
- Jul 29, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Carey Act — An 1894 law that lets the government help build water dams in western states.
- Secretary of the Interior — The federal official in charge of public lands, water, and nature.
- public works — Roads, bridges, water systems, and other things the government builds for people.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,485 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-17.
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