Trump Budget Proposes Eliminating Funding for Great Lakes

Bipartisan group of Michigan members of Congress call Trump plan to kill funds for the Great Lakes a “non-starter.”

GreatLakes-NoClouds-NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Jake Neher/WDET

Republican and Democratic members of Michigan’s Congressional delegation are criticizing the Trump Administration’s proposal to eliminate funding for restoration of the Great Lakes.

President Trump calls his proposed 2018 federal budget “A New Foundation for American Greatness.”

But a bipartisan group of Michigan legislators are calling it harsh and “dead on arrival.”

Michigan’s Congressional delegation is particularly concerned about the request to zero-out funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative — a $300 million program that lawmakers prevented from being cut earlier this year.

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) says in a statement that many of the proposed cuts are “non-starters.”

Upton notes that the budget proposal is only a request and it is Congress that will have the final say.

U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) says the state must stand together to protect the Great Lakes.

The Trump Administration says state and regional organizations can effectively restore and maintain the lakes without federal funding.

Author

  • Quinn Klinefelter is a Senior News Editor at 101.9 WDET. In 1996, he was literally on top of the news when he interviewed then-Senator Bob Dole about his presidential campaign and stepped on his feet.