[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 217 (Sunday, December 20, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7864-S7866]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             GREAT LAKES RESTORATION INITIATIVE ACT OF 2019

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I am on the floor tonight to join my 
colleague Senator Stabenow of Michigan to ask our colleagues to support 
legislation that has to do with the Great Lakes. It is called the Great 
Lakes Restoration Initiative. We are asking to reauthorize that 
legislation.
  This is one of those public-private partnerships that work. It is not 
only public, like Federal public, and private; it is Federal, State, 
local, and private individuals coming together to figure out how to 
keep our Great Lakes the amazing treasure that they are.
  I represent Lake Erie. It is on the north coast of Ohio. It is the 
most shallow and also the most fertile of the Great Lakes. It has 
incredible fishing. There is a gigantic, $7 billion fishing industry in 
the Great Lakes. A lot of it is recreational fishing--$7 billion. It is 
being threatened right now, really, by a few different things. One is 
these Asian carp, so-called ``bighead carp,'' that are coming up into 
the lake. We are doing all we can to keep them out, but this funding, 
the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, focuses on that issue to keep 
the carp from ruining Lake Erie as they have ruined other

[[Page S7865]]

bodies of water for recreational and commercial fishing.
  Second, we have to deal with our toxic algae blooms. You have 
probably heard about this. We have these blooms that are increasingly 
forming in Lake Erie, particularly in the western basin of the Toledo 
area. What they do is they keep people from being able to use the lake. 
You don't want to swim in it. By the way, you don't even want your dog 
to swim in it because the dogs can actually be injured by this. You 
don't want to fish in it, of course, and you really can't.
  I have gone fishing in the Great Lakes every year for the past many 
years. I love the Great Lakes. Part of my childhood was on the Great 
Lakes. When I was a little kid, with my dad, I went fishing on the 
Great Lakes. You really can't fish when the algae blooms come in 
because they are so thick, you literally can't get a lure or bait 
through the algae blooms, and your boat has a tough time getting 
through them.
  This is a serious issue. At one point, it got so serious in the 
western basin that it actually affected the water supply for the city 
of Toledo. So several years ago, we had to stop the city water in 
Toledo. I remember going there, with my pickup truck full of bottles of 
water, to help hand out water because people--particularly moms with 
babies--couldn't use the water. They were told: Don't allow your babies 
to have formula made from the water in the faucet because it is too 
dangerous, too toxic, because these algae blooms had gotten into the 
water system.
  That is how scary this is if we don't ensure that we are taking 
efforts at every level--State, local, in the private sector, and at the 
Federal. Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes now provide drinking water 
for 40 million people. You want to be sure that treasure continues, not 
just for recreation and fishing and swimming and so on but also for the 
water supply for so many Americans.
  The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is a downpayment, really, to 
ensure that we can deal with these invasive species like the Asian carp 
and others. It is to ensure that we can deal with the toxic algae 
blooms and the erosion that is occurring as the water level has gone up 
and also some pollution issues that remain in Lake Erie and in all the 
Great Lakes.
  The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative works. I have been to about 10 
of these sights all around Ohio, and I have gone often with people from 
the private sector and the local community and sometimes the State 
government, and we talk about how, again, this is a model partnership.
  As an example, I was at a farm in northwest Ohio, where, instead of 
telling them, ``Hey, you have to stop farming because you are putting 
nitrogen and phosphorus into the creek that goes by your farm, and that 
is going into the Maumee River, and that is going into Lake Erie and 
causing these algae blooms to grow,'' I asked, ``Hey, how can we work 
with you as a farmer to try to reduce your runoff?''
  We have had great success in that, but there is some expense in it. 
Often, you have to provide for filters and pumps and so on to keep this 
from going into the water supply and dealing with these upstream issues 
with regard to algae blooms and phosphorus nitrogen.
  So I am pleased to say that, as of tonight, it appears that we have 
passed this on both sides of the Chamber through a so-called hotline. 
We had to work with some of our colleagues to resolve some remaining 
questions that they had for which we had answers because this is a 
program that works, and I have seen it work.
  I am really pleased to have partnered with Senator Stabenow. We are 
cochairs of the Great Lakes Task Force. She is the Democratic cochair, 
and I am the Republican cochair, and tonight I have partnered with her 
on this legislation. I thank her for her friendship, her work on this 
issue, and her passion for the Great Lakes.
  I would like, if I could, to now turn to Senator Stabenow.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, 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.
  We, in Michigan, have passed four areas of concern that have been 
labeled because of the seriousness of what was happening to the water 
and the water quality. They have now been removed from those areas of 
concern, where the communities worked together using Great Lakes 
Restoration funding and working with the communities, and they have 
been delisted, which is a good thing. That means things have improved. 
You can fish again. You can swim again. You can enjoy the water again. 
And so we are seeing tremendous, tangible results from what we have 
been able to do together.
  And it is also important to note that for every $1 we put into 
investment through this important program, it produces $3 in economic 
return.
  So it is fiscally responsible. It is responsible stewardship for all 
of us in protecting the fresh waters of our country. What we are doing 
in this legislation, basically, would allow us, over the next 5 years, 
to raise the authorization level back up to where it started in 2010. 
It has been up and down, and up and down, and up and down, and this 
would allow us to be able, within the next 5 years, to get that 
authorization back up to where it was. So we do have the support of the 
body.
  Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent 
that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be discharged from 
further consideration of H.R. 4031 and the Senate proceed to its 
immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 4031) to amend the Federal Water Pollution 
     Control Act to reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration 
     Initiative, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the committee was discharged and the Senate 
proceeded to consider the bill.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 4031) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, thank you very much. Let me say again 
what a pleasure it is to work with my friend from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, one other point from Senator Stabenow and 
myself, and that is that we want to congratulate and thank our 
colleagues in the House for working with us on this Great Lakes 
Restoration Initiative and, in particular, the two cochairs in the 
House from the Great Lakes Task Force and the two coauthors of the 
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative legislation.
  That would be Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Representative  
 David Joyce from Ohio. We would like to thank them for their good work 
and

[[Page S7866]]

congratulate them on tonight's passage as well


                              Coronavirus

  Mr. STABENOW. Mr. President, I want to take one other moment just to 
also speak and thank everybody that is involved at this point in 
getting us to where we are on this very important survival package.
  I have never felt this was a COVID stimulus. It is about helping 
people survive over the next several months, whether that is making 
sure they have a roof over their head and food on the table, can pay 
the bills, keep the heat on. In places like North Dakota and places 
like Ohio, it is going to get pretty cold this winter. Our small 
businesses, our farmers, our schools that need help to be able to 
succeed, all the support we need to provide for vaccine distribution 
and healthcare, and all of the other areas--this has been a tough 
negotiation.
  I do want to say, on a couple of points where I have been deeply 
involved, I want to thank the Presiding Officer for his support and 
help on our nutrition and agriculture pieces. We have come together in 
a very important step. It is going to allow more people to get help to 
feed their families over the next several months--no small thing.
  We have a hunger crisis in our country. We have people who have 
donated to the food bank, worked for the food bank, and are now sitting 
for hours in cars, waiting to drive up and get a box of food, in the 
United States of America.
  And so what we are doing as part of this package is going to be 
significant to help people be able to purchase food in the grocery 
store, as well as to get help in other ways--to help our seniors with 
Meals on Wheels, to help our children who aren't able to eat in school 
right now, and our college students who don't have the opportunity to 
be on campus and get support.
  So we have very significant food access and nutrition, very positive 
efforts in this legislation. And for our farmers, as well, across the 
country, there is significant support, as well as help in our food 
chain and supply chain areas, where we have all been concerned as we 
have watched those involved in the supply chain lose their markets in 
restaurants and so on but not have the support and the capacity to take 
that milk or take those other commodities and be able to move them over 
and package them differently for consumers to go to the food bank. We 
make some headway in supporting that, as well, in this legislation.
  So I want to thank my colleagues. This is really the last negotiation 
that Senator Roberts and I have led, as he retires this year. And it 
has been, as I have said before, a great pleasure to work with him and 
to be able to achieve this effort--bipartisan effort.
  The one thank-you I just want to give is in a whole other area that 
has been a passion of mine that I have been proud to lead with a 
colleague from Missouri, Senator Roy Blunt. We have very significant 
support, as well, for behavioral health services, mental health, 
substance abuse services that are desperately needed and have been 
amplified, and the need has been expanded even more because of what has 
happened with the coronavirus.
  And there is important support in this legislation, as well, and I am 
grateful to be involved in pushing that forward as well.
  So there is more to talk about. I know we are a little ways away from 
that final vote, but I am hopeful that the coalition that was formed--
that all of us working together that brought this together and 
negotiated, and my colleagues who initiated this bipartisan effort--
will find that this is a coalition we want to keep going for next year, 
because there is so much more that we need to do together, and the 
American people expect us to get things done. And this, I hope, is the 
first step of many to celebrate ways that we are solving problems and 
helping people and moving the country forward.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. First of all, I want to agree with my colleague from 
Michigan and thank her for her work concerning behavioral health and 
working with us in a bipartisan group on both behavioral health and 
addiction because, unfortunately, during this pandemic, the epidemic of 
drug addiction and drug overdose and overdose deaths has increased 
dramatically, and it is a heartbreaking reality because we were making 
progress, thanks to work here in this Chamber and in the States. Around 
the country, we were actually reducing not just the number of people 
addicted but the number of people who were suffering from overdose and 
overdose deaths.
  Unfortunately, this year we are now going to see the largest overdose 
death rate in the history of our country, we believe. That is a sad 
reality, and we need to address it--that is part of the COVID-19 
package--along with the behavioral health issues that are also, 
unfortunately, being exacerbated by the isolation that comes with the 
COVID-19 issue and the helpless, probably, and the joblessness that we 
have been seeing.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Johnson). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________