On the recordMarch 22, 2016
I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for her leadership. Congresswoman Kaptur has always been a great ally for me and even my predecessor, my uncle, on working to preserve and protect this incredible natural asset that we have--the Great Lakes. Listening to Congresswoman Kaptur and Congressman Kelly refer to your childhood, we all--those of us from the Great Lakes region--remember and recall, from our childhood, our introduction to the Great Lakes. The very shape of my home State of Michigan is defined by the lakes. Lake Huron is on the east, Lake Michigan is on the west, a touch of Lake Erie, and, of course, Lake Superior to the north. It defines the shape of our State. As a child, I still remember the first time experiencing the lakes, and they did seem as though they were something that were so big, they was almost impossible to comprehend. But it was also something that, as a child, I took for granted. We all took for granted that the lakes would always be there, that they would always be pure, that they would always be clear and cold--the way we recalled them as children. Of course, what we come to know, as policymakers, is that we can't be put in a position to take that for granted. We have to actively protect that incredible gift that has been handed to us simply as a creation of God. We have this enormously special stewardship. Two things I want to point out that I think are part of the stewardship responsibility that we have to and for the Great Lakes.…
