Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman, and I also thank my colleagues from Ohio. This has been one of the true bipartisan issues that we have dealt with. So I would like to thank Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Joyce, Ms. Kaptur, Marcia Fudge, Jim Renacci, also, Pete Visclosky, and Chris Collins. As you just heard from Mr. Joyce, the Great Lakes are a huge issue. But, also, for us, Lake Erie is a huge issue. My legislation was put into this bill to require the EPA to appoint a coordinator to address the issue of harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes. We have so many groups that are interested, but we need the EPA to help coordinate. Our friends helped get this language into this bill, and I am deeply grateful for that. These harmful algal blooms affect over half a million Ohioans. It did in 2014. Lake Erie provides clean drinking water for approximately 3 million Ohioans, many of them up and around the Cleveland and Toledo areas. In August 2014, we had an environmental disaster caused by a harmful algal bloom that left nearly 500,000 residents of Toledo and the western basin without safe drinking water for 3 days. Lake Erie's tourist industry generates $12.9 billion in visitor spending, including 119,000 jobs, and contributes $1.7 billion in Federal, State, and local taxes. This crisis just continues to build, and it is critical that we start working together to come up with a plan to stem the growing tide.…”