Connie Mack: “I first would like to start off by saying that I'm only here this afternoon because of a concern for an algae bloom that…”

“I first would like to start off by saying that I'm only here this afternoon because of a concern for an algae bloom that continues to grow off my coast. It's called red tide. It causes economic damage. It causes quality of life damage. It's also harmful to the fisheries. I also understand that the majority is not really comfortable the way we constructed this amendment. I do want to say for the record that I've had a lot of support from Kathy Castor and Vern Buchanan on working, trying to get more research dollars on red tide. Currently, NOAA has a program, a peer-reviewed program, that moneys are appropriated to that then are used for research all around the country on red tide and harmful algae blooms. This amendment would then fully fund to $30 million a year those research projects. I spoke earlier to the chairman of the committee, and we talked about how we can move this ball down the road, how we can move forward on trying to get those research dollars up. It has a significant impact for our communities.”