USBR Tradeoff DA OFF USBR DA Unexpected new spending overstretches infrastructure maintenance capacity---causes a surge of structural failures Grayford Payne 19, Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Administration, and Budget, Bureau of Reclamation, “The Status of the Reclamation Fund and the Bureau of Reclamation’s Future Infrastructure Needs,” 7/24/19, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Natural Resources, US House of Representatives, https://naturalresources.house.gov/imo/media/doc/Payne%20Testimony%20-%20Sub%20on%20OI %20Ov%20Hrg%2007.24.19.pdf Reclamation’s inventory of assets includes 492 dams and 338 reservoirs with a total storage capacity of 140 million acre-feet throughout the 17 Western States. Our dams and reservoirs, water conveyance systems, and power generating facilities are integral components of the Nation’s infrastructure . Reclamation constructed many of these facilities early in the 20th century , but today, approximately two-thirds of these facilities, while still owned by the federal government, are now operated as “transferred works”, operated and maintained under a transfer agreement by local non-Federal operating entities who derive the direct benefits these features provide. This infrastructure and the partnerships that sustain it are key to Reclamation’s continued success. Assuring the benefits that these structures provide is among the significant challenges facing Reclamation and its operating partners. As the largest supplier and manager of water in the nation and the second largest producer of hydroelectric power, Reclamation’s projects and foundational to driving and maintaining economic growth in hundreds of watershed basins throughout the United States. Reclamation owns 76 power plants, and overall, Reclamation’s water, power and recreation activities support $62.7 billion in national economic activity and support 457,754 jobs . 1 programs are History and Status of The Reclamation Fund The Reclamation Fund (Fund) was established in the Reclamation Act of 1902 (Pub.L. 57-161), which also established the United States Reclamation Service within the U.S. Geological Survey at the Department of the Interior. The Fund was intended for “the examination and survey for and the construction and maintenance of irrigation works for the storage, diversion, and development of waters for the reclamation of arid and semiarid lands in the said States and Territories, and for the payment of all other expenditures provided for in this Act,” (43 U.S.C §391). Initially the Fund was designed to be a revolving account, supported by proceeds from sales of public lands and was later augmented by a percentage of the onshore royalties from oil, gas, and other mineral leases on Federal lands, collections from projects, and from other sources. By 1910 it became clear the revolving fund would not have enough receipts to pay for normal operating expenses as well as planned and ongoing projects . In 1910 and 1930, Congress authorized major deposits into the Reclamation Fund. In 1914, Congress amended the Reclamation Act to require all spending from the Fund be subject to the annual appropriations process, which the Administration believes provides proper oversight and fiscal constraint. In 1928, Congress authorized construction of Hoover Dam and Powerplant to be financed from the General Fund rather than the Reclamation Fund. By the end of the 1930s, many major Reclamation projects under construction were financed by monies from the General Fund. Since that time, including in recent decades, billions of dollars of Reclamation projects have been appropriated out of the general treasury (rather than from the Reclamation fund). Had these projects been appropriated out of the Reclamation fund, its balances would be significantly lower. Today, deposits into the Reclamation Fund come from public land sales, Reclamation project repayments, water contracts, power revenues, and onshore natural resource and mineral royalties. These deposits do not represent complete income to the Government from these sources but only the percentage of the revenue authorized by law to be deposited in the Reclamation Fund. Beginning in fiscal year 1978, Reclamation’s power marketing function was transferred to the Department of Energy. Since then, funds have been appropriated from the Reclamation Fund to the Department of Energy for the Western Area Power Administration. Receipts that are not appro