Officials say about $220 million in infrastructure funding will extend running water to Navajo Nation

Senator Mitt Romney and Governor Spencer Cox joined Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez at a joint announcement highlighting efforts to bring running water to communities on the Navajo Nation, an unnamed speaker said.

An unnamed speaker described bipartisan work on the infrastructure bill, saying, "I was working with 5 Democrats and 5 Republicans on an infrastructure bill," and urged that the bill include provisions to provide running water to Navajo citizens who lack it. The same speaker added, "It's like, how can this be in this day and age?" to emphasize the urgency of the need.

The speaker reported that appropriators agreed to provide about $220,000,000 in the infrastructure measure to deliver running water to the Navajo Nation. When questioned about the benefit to Utah, the speaker said that the Navajo residents of Utah "are gonna get running water," framing the allocation as a direct benefit to Utah's Navajo communities.

Speakers at the event also acknowledged the decades-long work and settlements that led to the present funding decision. The announcement credited multiple people and prior efforts for bringing the funding to fruition, describing the result as the product of long-term settlement work.

No formal vote or motion appears in the transcript of these remarks; the statement identifies an appropriations agreement and frames it as the result of bipartisan congressional work and multi-decade effort.