H.R. 7776 would allow the Department of the Interior (DOI) to use money from a particular account within the Colorado River Dam Fund to pay for operations, maintenance, and repairs of the Hoover Dam. Under current law, amounts collected from Hoover Dam project contractors are deposited into the fund and, excepting that one account, are available to be spent for those purposes. The bill would allow DOI to draw from that account for Hoover Dam projects. 

For this estimate, CBO assumes that the bill will be enacted before the end of calendar year 2024. Using information from the Office of Management and Budget, CBO estimates that $48 million currently in the fund would become available to DOI under the bill; CBO does not expect any additional deposits into that account. Based on historical spending patterns, CBO estimates that enacting the bill would cost $48 million over the 2025-2034 period. That spending would be classified as direct spending because the bill would allow those amounts to be spent without further appropriation.