Big Cut Proposed for Great Lakes Restoration

The President also spoke briefly today about a need nationally to cut spending on things that may not be absolutely essential.

He’s releasing his next federal budget proposal next week.

And one of the major cuts proposed in it may be very unpopular in the area.

It’s a $125 million cut to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

That’s about 25% of the project’s funding.

The initiative supports environmental cleanup and protection.

Writing in the New York Times earlier this week, Obama’s budget director, David Lew, called the cut difficult but necessary.

Lew said the easy cuts are behind us, and now cuts are required that he doesn’t want to make.

The Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, did a study a few years ago and found every dollar spent on Great Lakes cleanup results in 2 dollars of economic activity like fishing or tourism.