[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 203 (Monday, December 11, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H6804]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 DON'T LEAVE THE GREAT LAKES REGION OUT

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge the Biden 
administration to launch the Great Lakes Authority as passed by 
Congress last year. Don't leave our region out.
  For decades, the Great Lakes watershed, the largest body of 
freshwater on Earth, has endured atypical economic stress, job loss due 
to disastrous trade policies, underinvestment, and major 
deindustrialization.
  Now, with Democratic economic recovery initiatives that passed in the 
last 3 years, our region is beginning to see major reinvestment, 
starting with the long-delayed Soo Locks modernization so vital to our 
ports and maritime trade.
  For decades and decades, the Great Lakes region lacked authorization 
for a regional development instrumentality that might begin to emulate 
the success of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
  Now, coupling the Great Lakes authority with the Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, our region stands 
poised for new investment in good-paying jobs and economic opportunity 
to turbocharge revitalization.
  Our need is no different than the TVA, which for nearly 100 years has 
uplifted that formerly neglected region. All our Great Lakes region 
asks the Biden administration for is equal footing. Don't leave us out.

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