Michigan lawmakers are cheering President Trump’s proposed Fiscal Year 2021 budget for fully funding the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at $320 million. The Trump administration had tried to wipe out funding for the GLRI every year he’s been in office thus far, with bipartisan efforts from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and New York winning out to keep the money available. Nearly a year ago, Michigan Congressmen Bill Huizenga, Jack Bergman, and John Moolenaar met with the President in west Michigan to inform him of the importance of the Obama-era program and the critical role it plays in strengthening the economy and ecology of the Great Lakes. Following that, Trump announced in Grand Rapids that last year’s budget was going to be updated to include full funding for the GLRI. The U.S. House last week passed a bill supported by Congressman Fred Upton to reauthorize the program through 2026, and increase the funding by $25 million a year up to $475 million.
