The budget bill passed by the U.S. Senate over the weekend provides $4 billion to address drought, particularly targeting the Salton Sea.

The money was included in the Inflation Reduction Act climate bill by California Senators Feinstein and Padilla and ensures that the impacts of any federal Colorado River water cuts on the Salton Sea are fully mitigated according to the Salton Sea Authority. The legislation is expected to pass in the House of Representatives and then go to the Presidents desk.

Salton Sea Authority President Luis Plancarte said, " Our disadvantaged and tribal communities have paid with their lives and livelihoods for past state imposed water cuts to our region. There is simply no doubt that, without assured federal mitigation funding, the much more sizable federal cuts now under active consideration will decimate public health in our region".