Congressman Pat Tiberi's opposition to health care legislation evidently applies as well to legislation to protect the health of the Great Lakes.
Tiberi, according to the Nov. 1 Dispatch report, How Ohioans voted last week, joined most of his Republican colleagues in casting a "No" vote on H.R. 2996, a $32.2 billion spending bill for the U.S. Departments of Interior and Environmental Protection. "It includes $475 million to help clean up the Great Lakes," said the chart.
Ohio Democrats, except for Rep. Dennis Kucinich, supported the measure. But among Ohio Republicans, only Sen. George Voinovich and Rep. Steven LaTourette voted "Yes."
More details were provided by the Cleveland Plain Dealer in an article published today in the Dispatch.
WASHINGTON -- Without fanfare, President Barack Obama has approved a large cash infusion to help clean up the Great Lakes, quietly signing a bill that was years in the making and marks a rare bipartisan milestone......
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....the news brought cheers yesterday. It will mean about $146 million can be spent in the next year to clean toxic sediment and areas of concern, including the lower Cuyahoga River, while $60 million more can go toward removing zebra mussels, keeping out Asian carp and dealing with other invasive species that threaten marine life, shipping and recreation, according to figures in Obama's budget.
Another $97 million will go to reduce runoff and contamination from entering streams and rivers from farms and industry, while $105 million will help restore habitat and wildlife, including building the populations of lake trout, brook trout, lake sturgeon and piping plover. Finally, the budget has $65 million for accountability and monitoring.
This was a bipartisan accomplishment, set in motion during President George W. Bush's administration when Great Lakes shippers, environmentalists, fishermen and recreational boaters created an ambitious restoration blueprint calling for investments from U.S. and Canadian governments, states and provinces and the private and nonprofit sectors........
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The spending bill also contains $3.4 billion for drinking water and sewer improvements across the nation. It has an additional $4 million to add 635 acres to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Summit County.
Although Tiberi likes to portray himself as a moderate Republican who supports bipartisanship in Congress, he regularly votes against any spending bill for EPA or the Department of Interior. Once Barack Obama replaced George Bush in the Oval Office, Tiberi became a sudden convert to fiscal responsibility, voting against every Democrat-sponsored appropriation bill unless it was for the military, for veterans or for homeland security.
-- David Lore
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