Great Lakes Funding Targeted For 90% Cut Again

Funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative would be slashed by 90 percent under the latest budget proposal from the Trump Administration.

The Detroit News reports that the Great Lakes reduction is part of a $2.8 billion decrease in proposed funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

The cut, part of an overall 5 percent reduction in non-defense spending, would reduce the $300 million currently allocated for cleanup projects in the Great Lakes to just $30 million.

An identical reduction in funds was restored by Congress after Trump proposed the cut last year and lawmakers representing Michigan and other Great Lakes states are expected to oppose the reduction again.

In response to the proposal, Senator Debbie Stabenow release the following statement:

Stabenow Statement on Great Lakes Cuts in Trump Administration Budget Request

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), co-chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, released a statement on the proposed Trump Administration budget that would make a 90% cut to funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative:

“The Trump Administration just doesn’t get it and is once again gutting funding for the Great Lakes. Just like last year, and the year before, the people of Michigan will make their voices heard and I will lead the bipartisan fight to restore every penny.”

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which Senator Stabenow authored in 2010 and has continued to champion, is critical to cleaning up the Great Lakes, beaches, and waterways and fighting invasive species like Asian carp.According to the University Research Corridor, more than 700,000 Michigan jobs, one in five in the state, are tied to water.

President Trump proposed cutting funding to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in his 2017, 2018, and 2019 budget requests. Senator Stabenow led the effort to restore that funding all three years.