U.S. House Members Urge Biden to Support Great Lakes Funding

Contact: 

Lindsey Bacigal, BacigalL@nwf.org, (734) 887-7113   

Jordan Lubetkin, Lubetkin@nwf.org, (734) 904-1589   

U.S. House Members Urge Biden to Support Great Lakes Funding 

ANN ARBOR, MICH. (December 21, 2021)—More than 30 U.S. House Democrats and Republicans sent a letter to President Biden yesterday, urging him to include in his 2023 budget at least $400 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a federal program to clean up toxic pollution, restore fish and wildlife habitat, reduce runoff pollution, and combat invasive species.  

Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, said: “We thank members of the Great Lakes congressional delegation for continuing to make Great Lakes restoration and protection a national priority. Federal investments to restore and protect the Great Lakes have been producing results in communities across the region, but urgent problems remain. We encourage the Biden Administration to show its support for Great Lakes restoration and protection by fully funding this important program. Now is not the time to falter, or the problems will only get worse and more expensive to solve.”   

Signatories to the House letter include: Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), Chris Jacobs (R-N.Y.), Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.), Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.), John Katko (R-N.Y.), Bradley S. Schneider (D-Ill.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Bill Foster (D-Ill.), Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), Jesús G. "Chuy" García (D-Ill.), Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), Marie Newman (D-Ill.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), Andy Levin (D-Mich.), Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).  

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition issued a letter recently, urging the Biden Administration to include in its 2023 proposed budget at least $400 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.  

Since 2004, the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has been harnessing the collective power of more than 170 groups representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Learn more at HealthyLakes.org or follow us on Twitter @HealthyLakes.

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