FEINGOLD TAKES ACTION TO INCREASE FUNDING TO PROTECT
GREAT LAKES
Bipartisan Trio of Senators Reject Funding Cuts to Great Lakes Programs
March 4, 2008
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) is calling
for greater protection for the Great Lakes from invasive species, decreasing
water levels, and other problems. Feingold, a member of the Senate Budget
Committee, is leading an effort with fellow Senators Debbie Stabenow
(D-MI) and George Voinovich (R-OH) to urge the committee to fully fund
Great Lakes programs to address problems including toxic sediments,
habitat destruction and decreasing water quality in addition to invasive
species and decreasing water levels. The president has proposed funding
cuts of 16 percent for these programs in his budget proposal.
“Congress must fully commit to keeping the Great Lakes healthy,”
Feingold said. “The Great Lakes are a national resource like no
other and we can’t afford to take them for granted. The Great
Lakes require our immediate attention and commitment if they are to
remain a vibrant economic and environmental resource for Wisconsin,
the Midwest, and the entire nation.”
The push to fund programs to keep the Great Lakes healthy is the latest
example of Feingold’s record of defending the Great Lakes. Late
last year, Feingold successfully pressed the International Joint Commission,
a joint U.S./Canadian body that oversees the Great Lakes, to quickly
address the issue of record low water levels in the Upper Great Lakes.
Feingold also joined a group of senators from Great Lakes states last
year to push the Senate to address the critical issue of ballast water
bringing invasive species into the Great Lakes, which cause tremendous
economic, environmental and human health problems. Feingold is also
championing the Clean Water Restoration Act, supported by many of his
House and Senate colleagues from Great Lakes states, to turn back efforts
to roll back the Clean Water Act of 1972. Congress must act to prevent
direct dumping of pollution and degradation of wetlands and headwater
and smaller streams that are critical to both the quality and quantity
of the Great Lakes’ water.
“The longer we wait to meet the problems facing the Great Lakes,
the more expensive and difficult they will be to solve,” the senators
said in their letter to the Budget Committee.
Read the letter from the Senators to the chairman and ranking member
of the Senate Budget Committee urging increased funding here.
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