On March 25, President
Donald Trump expressed
support for the Great Lakes
Restoration
Initiative
to be fully funded in a
Grand Rapids rally. This
turnaround came after an
initial 90 percent budget cut
for the initiative as outlined
in the 2020 budget plan for
congressional approval just
weeks before. In the 2020
budget plan released March
11, Trump proposed to cut
the
$300-million
Great
Lakes Restoration Initiative
by $270 million.
During the Grand Rapids
rally last Thursday, Trump
said he would get funding
for the initiative because he
supports the Great Lakes.
“I
support
the
Great
Lakes,” Trump said. “Always
have. They are beautiful.
They are big, very deep.
Record deepness, right? And
I’m going to get, in honor of
my friends, full funding of
$300 million for the Great
Lakes Restoration Initiative,
which you’ve been trying to
get for over 30 years.”
The
Great
Lakes
Restoration Initiative was
started in 2010 and received
$475 million in 2010 at
the peak of the program’s
funding. According to the
Initiative’s website, GLRI
has
received
a
funding
amount of at least $283.5
million annually until 2017.
In
the
president’s
initial 2020 budget for the
Environmental
Protection
Agency, the 2020 budget
for GLRI is reduced to $30
million, a 90-percent cut of
$270 million from its $300
million budget for 2019.
Michigan
state
Rep.
Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor,
condemned
the
initial
budget cut for GLRI and
Special Olympics in a phone
interview with The Daily.
“The
budget
(Trump)
proposed
is
full
of
problems,” Rabhi said. “Not
just the elimination of the
Great Lakes Restoration
Initiative monies, but
also the reduction of
the
Special
Olympics
funds.”
Despite so, a fully
funded GLRI bodes well
for bipartisan support
of
environmental
protection
but
still
attracts worries from
Democrats.
LSA sophomore Kate
Nachazel, vice president
of
the
University’s
chapter
of
College
Republicans, said she
feels
the
change
is
positive.
“I’m glad he is doing
that,”
Nachazel
said.
“I think that the right
people
in
the
right
positions put pressure
on him.”
LSA
sophomore
Camille
Mancuso,
communications
director for the University’s
chapter
of
College
Democrats,
has
concerns
about the attitude of Trump’s
administration
towards
environmental
protection
despite the change.
“Regardless
that
the
initiative being fully funded,
we should really be focused
on the fact that it was
proposed to be defunded
altogether,” Mancuso said.
“This
is
the
president’s
third
attempt
to
cut
funding for the Great Lakes,
which really shows that
protecting the environment
… is not a priority of this
administration.”
Rabhi agreed that despite
a
positive
change
for
environmental
protection,
long-term
decisions
affecting
many
are
not
thoroughly considered by
the administration.
“While I am glad that we
can use more funding for
the Great Lakes Restoration
Initiative,
I
think
his
inability
to
comprehend
what is important and what
isn’t,” Rabhi said.
Rabhi
attributed
the
swift budget cut to the
insufficiency of a smaller
tax in supporting the federal
budget.
“There (are) cuts now
that we have to make for the
federal budget because of
his short-sighted tax policy
which granted millions of
dollars of tax breaks for
businesses on the backs of
our federal budget,” Rabhi
said.
According to Rabhi, both
the initial budget cut and the
recovery of full funding for
the initiative has disrupted
people’s livelihoods.
“People’s
jobs
are
on
the line here,” Rabhi said.
“There
(are)
so
many
implications
this
small,
tiny amount of money has
huge implications, not just
for Michigan but all across
Great Lake states.”
2 — Friday,April 5, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
ALEC COHEN/Daily
In the president’s
initial 2020
budget for the
Environmental
Protection Agency,
the 2020 budget for
GLRI is reduced
to $30 million, a
90-percent cut of
$270 million from its
$300 million budget
for 2019.
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LSA freshman Ben Rosenfeld on his story “Ann Arbor-based law center
sues AG, state civil rights department”:
“Interviewing one of the leaders of the AFLC provided a lot of background information
on the case, but the most interesting person I got to interview was probably state
Representative Yousef Rabhi. He was able to provide a lot of information about the
legislative measures state government takes to work against organizations like the ones
classified as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He also gave an interesting
perspective on the role of the Department of Civil Rights in Michigan politics and how they
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QUOTE OF THE WE E K
The university’s commitment to the importance of such dialogue
for the future of our democracy underpins our interest in hosting a
Commission on Presidential Debates event.”
University President Mark Schlissel in his letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates
Trump reverses decision on funding
for Great Lakes Restortion Initiative
RHYMES W/ LARD puzzle by sudokusyndication.com
YIFAN YU
Daily Staff Reporter
“
President had originally proposed to cut budget from $300 million by $270 million