43 U.S.C. § 414 — Appropriation for projects essential

This section controls how projects under the reclamation law get paid for. Money can be spent on reclamation-law purposes only if Congress first appropriates it, and only through appropriations made every year — the government cannot spend on its own say-so, and it cannot rely on old appropriations instead of getting new ones annually. Each year, the annual Budget submitted to Congress must include estimates of how much money is needed to carry out any or all of the purposes authorized by the reclamation law. That includes money to extend and complete existing projects and the smaller units within them, and money to build brand-new projects. Once Congress appropriates money under this section for these purposes, that money must be paid out of the reclamation fund — the specific fund set up by the reclamation law — rather than out of the Treasury's general funds or any other source.