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Updated January 8, 2025
Bureau of Reclamation: FY2025 Budget and Appropriations
The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), part of the
Department of the Interior, is primarily responsible for the
construction and operation of hundreds of large dams and
water diversion structures in the 17 western Reclamation
States, as designated in statute (43 U.S.C. §391).
Reclamation is the largest wholesale supplier of water in
these 17 states and the second-largest hydroelectric power
producer in the nation. Reclamation's mission areas and
geographic scope are narrower than those of the other
principal federal water resource agency, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers.
Reclamation's Water and Related Resources account funds
most agency activities, including construction, operations
and maintenance, dam safety, and Indian water rights
settlements, as well as the agency's programmatic and grant
authorities (including those for water reuse and recycling,
desalination, conservation and efficiency, and aquatic
ecosystem restoration, among other purposes). Reclamation
typically also receives funding for three smaller accounts:
California Bay-Delta Restoration, the Central Valley
Project Restoration Fund (which is offset by customer
receipts), and Policy and Administration.
FY2025 Budget and Appropriations
The Administration usually requests a lower amount for
Reclamation than the final enacted total of annual
appropriations. For FY2025, the President requested $1.599
billion in current budget authority (i.e., appropriations
before offsets) for Reclamation, or $301 million less than
the $1.900 billion provided by Congress in the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, FY2024 (P.L. 118-42).
The majority of Reclamation's funding is for the Water and
Related Resources Account. As shown in Figure 1, in
FY2025 appropriations action, the House Appropriations
Committee recommended $1.929 billion for Reclamation in
H.R. 8997, while the Senate Appropriations Committee
recommended $2.020 billion in S. 4927.
In addition to regular annual appropriations, Congress has
provided Reclamation with supplemental appropriations,
which will augment discretionary funding by approximately
$2.500 billion in FY2025. The Infrastructure Investment
and Jobs Act (P.L. 117-58) included $8.300 billion in
supplemental appropriations for various infrastructure-
focused Reclamation expenditures. This funding is to be
made available in equal installments from FY2022 to
FY2026 (i.e., $1.660 billion per year) and is no year
funding, meaning it remains available until expended. P.L.
117-169 (popularly known as the Inflation Reduction Act of
2022, or IRA) provided an additional $4.590 billion for
Reclamation, including $4.000 billion for western drought
mitigation, with priority given to actions in the Colorado
River Basin. IRA funding is to remain available until
FY2026 or FY2031, depending on the provision.
Reclamation has been allocating these funds on a rolling
basis.
Figure I. Reclamation Annual Appropriations,
FY20 I 5-FY2025
Figure is interactive in the HTML version of this In Focus.
All Other Water & Related qstnflatio Adjusted
Accounts Resources Account Total
$2,000 $ in miarioii
$1,000
$500
$o
X* X- A-XAX ' A)' A-, X,
Source: CRS, based on FY20 5-FY2025 appropriations and FY2025
budget request. Inflation adjustment to FY2023 dollars based on
Office of Management and Budget (0MB) FY2025 Budget, Historical
Table 10.1.
Note: Amounts do not reflect supplemental funding or offsetting
receipts.
Additional Funding and Earmarks
Reclamation's Water and Related Resources account
consists largely of individual project funding lines. During
the 112thn 1161 Congresses, Reclamation appropriations
were subject to general earmark moratoriums tat restricted
Congress from funding geographically specific project line
items not requested by the Administration. Instead,
Congress included Additional Funding amounts for selected
categories of Reclamation projects, typically in five
categories: Rural Water, Water Conservation and Delivery,
Environmental Restoration and Compliance, Fish
Passage/Fish Screens, and Facilities Maintenance and
Rehabilitation. The Administration allocated these funds for
specific projects in spend plans made available several
months after enactment of the appropriations bills.
In the 117th and 118th Congresses, appropriations
recommendations have included earmarks (now categorized
as community projectfunding [CPF] or congressionally
directed spending [CDS] in the House and Senate,
respectively). Congress has recommended funding
CPF/CDS items in Reclamation's Water and Related
Resources account, in addition to amounts designated as
Additional Funding. For FY2025 appropriations, H.R.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/goveryp0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)