Political Quotes

“it is always wonderful to work with my friend and colleague from Ohio, and certainly we share a tremendous partnership and passion about our Great Lakes. For us in Michigan, we are a peninsula. We are surrounded by the Great Lakes, and we really believe it is about our way of life. My friend has talked about the fishing industry and the boating industry. There are 40 million people who get their drinking water from the Great Lakes Basin. We have more lighthouses all around Michigan, actually, than any other shoreline has in the country. We say we have the ocean without the salt, and it is very much in our DNA for us in Michigan. As the Senator from Ohio indicated, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative focuses on a number of things that deal with water quality, stopping the spread of Asian carp and other invasive species, and restoring the shoreline from any future contaminations. I have to say, as a personal point of pride, in 2010, I authored the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative as a member of the Senate Committee on the Budget, and since that time, we have funded 5,449 different projects throughout the entire region of the Great Lakes, including 880 projects in Michigan. And we have seen tangible results. As Senator Portman has indicated, this is a partnership, public- private. It is with local communities. It is with State governments. It is the Federal Government.…”