For the third consecutive year, President Obama's federal budget proposal cuts funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The budget released this week sets aside 250 million dollars for the program, down from 300 million this fiscal year. The president has recommended similar reductions the past two years, but Congress has kept the program at 300 million dollars. Todd Ambs is the director of the environmental group called the Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition. He says they will lobby Congress to keep the funding intact to support projects dealing with toxic pollution, invasive species, habitat loss and runoff that causes algae blooms.
Both of Ohio's U.S. Senators - Republican Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown - say they will work to restore the 50 million dollar cut.
