In Michigan, Trump does an about-face on Great Lakes

Washington – For the third year in a row, President Donald Trump has proposed nearly wiping out funding for the Great Lakes preservation program. And yet on Thursday night, less than a month after proposing to slash 90 percent the initiative's budget, Trump told supporters at a rally in Michigan that he would fund the program.

The reality is, Congress controls the federal purse strings and has in the past disregarded his calls for those sharp cuts, instead continuing to approve the funding at higher levels.

The White House's budget blueprint released March 11 proposed funding the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at $30 million, down from the $300 million Congress approved last year.

But while speaking before supporters in Michigan, Trump did an about-face, saying he supports the lakes.

"They are big, very deep. record deepness, right?" he said. "And I'm going to get, in honor of my friends, full funding of $300 million for the Great Lakes restoration, which you've been trying to get for over 30 years."

Not only are the Great Lakes not among the world's deepest, the multiagency initiative to conserve the region only began in 2010. The initiative was founded to boost efforts to protect and restore what is considered the largest system of fresh surface water in the world, covering Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario.

Congress approved $475 million for the program in its first year and has funded the initiative at around $300 million every year since.

The Great Lakes' shorelines are shared by the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and their conservation ­program enjoys bipartisan support, even in a deeply divided Congress. Five of those states voted for Trump in 2016.

The restoration effort is overseen by several agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service and the Army Corps of Engineers, along with state and local authorities. The program was founded to protect the area's ecosystem, including combating invasive species, preserving wildlife habitats and controlling pollution.

The lakes provide drinking water for more than 48 million people in the U.S. and Canada and directly create more than 1.5 million jobs and $60 billion in wages yearly, according to the Great Lakes Commission. The lakes are also a habitat for more than 3,500 plant and animal species.

Both Democrats and Republicans have scolded the Trump administration for wanting to decimate its funding.

"As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, which approves funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, I would have never allowed Trump's gutting of GLRI to make it through Congress without a fight," Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio. "It's an insult to the 30 million people who rely on the Great Lakes that he would even put such a disastrous proposal on the table."

"You can call me a one-trick pony about the Great Lakes, but this program is very important for me," Joyce said at a Tuesday hearing to examine the president's budget request.

Appropriators, who will consider Trump's budget proposal as they write the fiscal 2020 Interior-Environment funding bill, have already indicated they will disregard the calls for a cut.