The proposed budget essentially eliminates the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), which was authorized for $300 million under the Obama administration but has been reduced to $10 million under Trumps proposed budget. In his confirmation hearings, Pruitt promised to maintain funding for the GLRI, and allegedly was surprised by the president's move to strip it out of EPA's funding request. That deep cut has drawn a rebuke from Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, who said: The Great Lakes are an invaluable resource to Ohio, and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has been a successful public-private partnership that helps protect both our environment and our economy. Portman quoted a recent study, which found that the GLRIs work generates a total of more than $80 billion in benefits in health, tourism, fishing and recreation. The study also states that GLRI saves communities like Toledo, Ohio $50 million in costs, and increases property values across the region by a total

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