The bill
Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2025
S. 637, 119th Congress — read as touching Construction & Engineering.
Sponsored by
Sen. Lujan, Ben Ray [D-NM]
ID: L000570
Follow the money
The bill
S. 637, 119th Congress — read as touching Construction & Engineering.
The sponsor
Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.
The money
30 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.
The alignment
This bill's text tracks the "Introduction" section, p. 569-571 of the Mandate for Leadership.
Track this bill's progress through the legislative process
Latest Action
Committee on Indian Affairs. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
March 4, 2025
📍 Current Status
Next: The full Senate will vote on whether to pass the bill.
1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.
2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.
3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.
4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.
5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.
6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.
7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!
Another masterpiece of legislative theater, brought to you by the esteemed members of Congress. Let's dissect this monstrosity and see what's really going on.
**Main Purpose & Objectives**
The Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2025 is a bill that claims to "make improvements" to the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act. But don't be fooled – this is just a euphemism for "we're going to throw more money at a problem and hope it goes away."
The real purpose of this bill is to authorize additional funding for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, which has been plagued by delays, cost overruns, and bureaucratic incompetence. It's like trying to put a Band-Aid on a bullet wound – it might look pretty, but it won't fix the underlying problem.
**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law**
The bill makes several changes to existing law, including:
* Redefining terms like "Deferred Construction Fund" and "Project Service Area" to make them sound more impressive. * Authorizing the expansion of the project service area to include more communities in New Mexico and Arizona. Because what's a few million dollars more when you're already hemorrhaging cash? * Allowing the Navajo Nation to acquire, construct, and operate additional facilities, because clearly, they've done such a great job so far.
**Affected Parties & Stakeholders**
The affected parties include:
* The Navajo Nation, which will receive more funding for their water supply project. Yay, more money! * The Bureau of Reclamation, which will get to oversee the project and pretend like they're doing something useful. * The taxpayers, who will foot the bill for this boondoggle.
**Potential Impact & Implications**
The potential impact of this bill is:
* More waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars. Because what's a few hundred million more when you're already throwing money at a problem? * Further delays and cost overruns, because that's just how these projects work. * A continued lack of accountability and transparency, because who needs those things when you're dealing with government agencies?
In conclusion, this bill is a perfect example of the legislative disease known as "Throw-Money-At-The-Problem-itis." It's a symptom of a deeper illness – the inability of our elected officials to make tough decisions and actually solve problems. Instead, they'd rather just throw more money at it and hope it goes away.
Diagnosis: Terminal stupidity, with a side of bureaucratic incompetence. Prognosis: Poor. Treatment: None, because we're too busy throwing money at the problem to actually fix it.
Sen. Lujan, Ben Ray [D-NM]
Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle
No PAC contributions found
No committee contributions found
This bill has 2 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.
ID: C001114
Top Contributors
10
ID: H001046
Top Contributors
10
Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.
Showing 74 nodes and 36 connections (85 secondary connections hidden)
Total contributions: $124,600
Showing top 22 donors by contribution amount
Which industries are materially affected by specific provisions in this bill. 4 helped, 1 harmed.
Section 3(a)(1)(D) authorizes additional service areas for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, which will require construction of water conveyance and storage facilities, pipelines, pumping plants, and related infrastructure, directly benefiting construction and engineering firms involved in such projects.
Section 3(a)(2)(B) authorizes the acquisition and use of water conveyance and storage facilities associated with the San Juan Generating Station, including diversion dam, intake structure, river pumping plant, pipeline, dam, reservoir, and associated land, which involves midstream energy infrastructure like pipelines and storage facilities.
Section 3(a)(5)(B) explicitly authorizes the Secretary to use funds for renewable energy development (up to $6,250,000) and hydroelectric power (up to $1,250,000) for Project facilities that lack access to Colorado River Storage Project power, directly benefiting renewable energy companies involved in solar, wind, and hydroelectric projects.
Section 3(a)(5)(B) authorizes the Secretary to use up to $6,250,000 for renewable energy development and up to $1,250,000 for hydroelectric power for Project facilities, which could benefit electric utilities involved in renewable energy generation and distribution.
Section 3(a)(2)(B) references the San Juan Generating Station, a coal-fired electric power plant, and authorizes the acquisition of its water conveyance and storage facilities. While the bill does not explicitly shut down the plant, facilitating water infrastructure for a coal plant could be seen as supporting coal operations, but given the broader context of water rights and potential transition away from coal, the polarity is assigned as negative with low confidence due to ambiguity. However,
This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document.
— 536 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise 2. Engaging in real-time monitoring of operations. l Reduce bureaucratic inefficiencies by consolidating federal water working groups. l Implement actions identified in the Federal Action Plan for Improving Fore- casts of Water Availability,93 especially by adopting improvements related to: 1. Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations; and 2. Arial Snow Observation Systems. l Clarify the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act94 to ensure consistent application with other federal infrastructure loan programs under the Federal Credit Reform Act. This should be done to foster opportunities for locally led investment in water infrastructure. l Reinstate Presidential Memorandum on Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West.95 AMERICAN INDIANS AND U.S. TRUST RESPONSIBILITY The Biden Administration has breached its federal trust responsibilities to American Indians. This is unconscionable. Specifically, the Biden Administra- tion’s war on domestically available fossil fuels and mineral sources has been devastating. To wit: l The ability of American Indians and tribal governments to develop their abundant oil and gas resources has been severely hampered, depriving them of the revenue and profits to which they are entitled during a time of increasing worldwide energy prices, forcing American Indians—who are among the poorest Americans—to choose between food and fuel. l Indian nations with significant coal resources have some of the highest quality and cleanest-burning coal in the world, but the Biden Administration has sought to destroy the market for their coal by eliminating coal-fired electricity in the country and to prevent the transport of their coal for sale internationally. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration, at great public expense, artificially boosted the demand for electric vehicles, which, because of their remote locations, the absence of increased electricity demands for charging electric vehicles nearby, and the distances to be traveled, are not a choice for Indian communities. — 537 — Department of the Interior l A significant percentage of critical minerals needed by the United States is on Indian lands, but the Biden Administration has actively discouraged development of critical mineral mining projects on Indian lands rather than assisting in their advancement. l Despite Indian nations having primary responsibility for their lands and environment and responsibility for the safety of their communities, the Biden Administration is reversing efforts to put Indian nations in charge of environmental regulation on their own lands. Moreover, Biden Administration policies, including those of the DOI, have dis- proportionately impacted American Indians and Indian nations. l By its failure to secure the border, the Biden Administration has robbed Indian nations on or near the Mexican border of safe and secure communities while permitting them to be swamped by a tide of illegal drugs, particularly fentanyl. l When ending COVID protocols at Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools, Biden’s DOI failed to ensure an accurate accounting of students returning from school shutdowns, which presents a significant danger to the families that trust their children to that federal agency. l The BIE is not reporting student academic assessment data to ensure parents and the larger tribal communities know their children are learning and are receiving a quality education. The new Administration must take the following actions to fulfill the nation’s trust responsibilities to American Indians and Indian nations: l End the war on fossil fuels and domestically available minerals and facilitate their development on lands owned by Indians and Indian nations. l End federal mandates and subsidies of electric vehicles. l Restore the right of tribal governments to enforce environmental regulation on their lands. l Secure the nation’s border to protect the sovereignty and safety of tribal lands.
— 536 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise 2. Engaging in real-time monitoring of operations. l Reduce bureaucratic inefficiencies by consolidating federal water working groups. l Implement actions identified in the Federal Action Plan for Improving Fore- casts of Water Availability,93 especially by adopting improvements related to: 1. Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations; and 2. Arial Snow Observation Systems. l Clarify the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act94 to ensure consistent application with other federal infrastructure loan programs under the Federal Credit Reform Act. This should be done to foster opportunities for locally led investment in water infrastructure. l Reinstate Presidential Memorandum on Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West.95 AMERICAN INDIANS AND U.S. TRUST RESPONSIBILITY The Biden Administration has breached its federal trust responsibilities to American Indians. This is unconscionable. Specifically, the Biden Administra- tion’s war on domestically available fossil fuels and mineral sources has been devastating. To wit: l The ability of American Indians and tribal governments to develop their abundant oil and gas resources has been severely hampered, depriving them of the revenue and profits to which they are entitled during a time of increasing worldwide energy prices, forcing American Indians—who are among the poorest Americans—to choose between food and fuel. l Indian nations with significant coal resources have some of the highest quality and cleanest-burning coal in the world, but the Biden Administration has sought to destroy the market for their coal by eliminating coal-fired electricity in the country and to prevent the transport of their coal for sale internationally. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration, at great public expense, artificially boosted the demand for electric vehicles, which, because of their remote locations, the absence of increased electricity demands for charging electric vehicles nearby, and the distances to be traveled, are not a choice for Indian communities.
Policy matches are calculated using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text. A score of 60% or higher indicates meaningful thematic overlap. This does not imply direct causation or intent, but highlights areas where legislation aligns with Project 2025 policy objectives.
New Mexico Land Grant-Mercedes Historical or Traditional Use Cooperation and Coordination Act
119/s/1363
Technical Corrections to the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act, Taos Pueblo Indian Water Rights Settlement Act, and Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act
119/s/640
Mining Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Prevention Act of 2025
119/s/859