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. BE HIND TH E STORY Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com ARTS SECTION arts@michigandaily.com SPORTS SECTION sports@michigandaily.com ADVERTISING dailydisplay@gmail.com NEWS TIPS news@michigandaily.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR tothedaily@michigandaily.com EDITORIAL PAGE opinion@michigandaily.com TOMMY DYE Business Manager 734-418-4115 ext. 1241 tomedye@michigandaily.com MAYA GOLDMAN Editor in Chief 734-418-4115 ext. 1251 mayagold@michigandaily.com PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION photo@michigandaily.com NEWSROOM 734-418-4115 opt. 3 CORRECTIONS corrections@michigandaily.com The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long subscriptions are $275. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. FINNTAN STORER Managing Editor frstorer@michigandaily.com GRACE KAY and ELIZABETH LAWRENCE Managing News Editors news@michigandaily.com Senior News Editors: Sayali Amin, Rachel Cunningham, Remy Farkas, Leah Graham, Amara Shaikh Assistant News Editors: Barbara Collins, Alex Harring, Danielle Pasekoff, Atticus Raasch, Ben Rosenfeld, Samantha Small, Emma Stein, Zayna Syed, Callie Teitelbaum, Liat Weinstein JOEL DANILEWITZ and MAGDALENA MIHAYLOVA Editorial Page Editors tothedaily@michigandaily.com Senior Opinion Editors: Emily Huhman, Alexander Satola, Elias Khoury, Nicholas Tomaino, Erin White MAX MARCOVITCH and ETHAN SEARS Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaily.com JACK BRANDON and ARYA NAIDU Managing Arts Editors arts@michigandaily.com Senior Arts Editors: Clara Scott, Emma Chang, Cassandra Mansuetti, Sam Della Fera, Trina Pal Arts Beat Editors: Verity Sturm, Sayan Ghosh, Mike Watkins, Ally Owens, Stephen Satarino, Izzy Hasslund, Margaret Sheridan ALEXIS RANKIN and ALEC COHEN Managing Photo Editors photo@michigandaily.com ROSEANNE CHAO and JACK SILBERMAN Managing Design Editors design@michigandaily.com Senior Design Editor: Willa Hua ANDREA PÉREZ BALDERRAMA Statement Editor statement@michigandaily.com Deputy Editors: Matthew Harmon, Shannon Ors MADELINE TURNER and MIRIAM FRANCISCO Managing Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com Senior Copy Editors: Sadia Jiban, Olivia Sedlacek, Reece Meyhoefer CASEY TIN and HASSAAN ALI WATTOO Managing Online Editors webteam@michigandaily.com Senior Web Developers: Jonathon Liu, Abha Panda, Ryan Siu, David Talbot, Samantha Cohen NOAH TAPPEN Managing Video Editor video@michigandaily.com Senior Video Editors: Jillian Drzinski, Aarthi Janakiraman CARLY RYAN and NA’KIA CHANNEY Michigan in Color Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Lorna Brown, Samuel So, Ana Maria Sanchez-Castillo, Efe Osagie, Danyel Tharakan Assistant Michigan in Color Editors: Grace Cho, Harnoor Singh, Nada Eldawy, Maya Mokh CARRINGTON TUBMAN and MADALASA CHAUDHARI Managing Social Media Editors Editorial Staff Business Staff CAMERON COANE Sales Manager ROBERT WAGMAN Marketing Consulting Manager ZELJKO KOSPIC Special Projects Manager ANITA MICHAUD Brand Manager Senior Photo Editors: Alexandria Pompei, Natalie Stephens, Alice Liu, Annie Klusendorf Assistant Photo Editors: Katelyn Mulcahy, Miles Macklin, Emma Richter, Hannah Siegel, Allison Engkvist Senior Sports Editors: Mark Calcagno, Jake Shames, Matthew Kennedy, Anna Marcus, Paige Voeffray, Avi Sholkoff Assistant Sports Editors: Aria Gerson, Tien Le, Rian Ratnavale, Bennett Bramson, Theo Mackie, Akul Vijayvargiya ADRIANNA KUSMIERCZYK Creative Director CATHERINE NOUHAN and JOHN FABIAN Managing Podcast Editors 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 work with the Attorney General and other government officials to combat discrimination against minority communities.” TUESDAY: By Design THURSDAY: Twitter Talk FRIDAY: Behind the Story WEDNESDAY: This Week in History MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers 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