{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://kelly.house.gov/press-release/rep-kelly-champions-great-lakes-restoration-initiative-act-house-floor", "Rep. Kelly Champions Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act on House Floor", "2014-12-09", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "PA", "Mike Kelly", "K000376", "kelly.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WATCH HERE\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (PA-03) \u2013 co-chairman of the Northeast-Midwest (NEMW) Congressional Coalition \u2013 delivered remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives today in support of H.R. 5764, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2014, of which he is a co-sponsor. The bipartisan legislation was passed unanimously by the House this afternoon.\nHighlights of Rep. Kelly\u2019s floor speech:\n\u201cWe all understand what it is that makes the Great Lakes great, and I think that\u2019s the whole point of what we\u2019re talking about: this is a gift from God.\u201d\n\u201cIf you could just close your eyes for one minute and visualize in your mind\u2019s eye the continental United States, the landmass, the volume of freshwater contained in our Great Lakes would cover that landmass by 9 \u00bd to 10 feet! It is an incredible amount of water. But more importantly, it is an incredible gift from God. We have to protect this area. Why would we not? The statistics that we talk about are overwhelming.\u201d\n\u201cWe thank a lot of people for being involved with this, but you know who I want to thank more than anybody else? It\u2019s the hardworking American taxpayers. By our Constitution, we are granted the authority to tax them, but we are also given the responsibility to spend their money the right way.\u201d\n\u201cOne-fifth of the world\u2019s freshwater \u2013 not one-fifth of Pennsylvania\u2019s, not one-fifth of the United States\u2019, not\u00a0one-fifth of North America\u2019s \u2013 but one-fifth of the world\u2019s freshwater resides in the Great Lakes.\u201d\n\u201cWe have an opportunity to do something that just makes sense to each and every one of us. We can get this done. And if I may, just for a minute, to paraphrase Luke 12:48: \u2018To whom much is given, much is required.\u2019 Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that this is not an option. This is a moral obligation, on behalf of the people of this great country, to look at one of the assets that we have, a gift from God, and make sure that we preserve it for future generations.\u201d\nNOTE: The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2014 (H.R. 5764) amends the Clean Water Act to authorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) for Fiscal Years 2015 \u2013 2019.\u00a0The GLRI was an inter-agency program launched by President Obama in 2009 to implement a regional collaboration strategy developed in 2005 through a process established by an executive order from then-President George W. Bush in 2004. The GLRI had not previously received congressional authorization. Without increasing federal spending, this bill would authorize the GLRI at $300 million (the amount already appropriated over the past four fiscal years) each year for the next five years.\nWith the help of GLRI, Presque Isle Bay in Erie, Pennsylvania was removed from the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s list of Areas of Concern in 2013. Additionally, the GLRI has been instrumental in keeping Asian Carp from invading the Great Lakes and threatening its world class fisheries. \u00a0\n\u00a0\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://kelly.house.gov/press-release/rep-kelly-champions-great-lakes-restoration-initiative-act-house-floor"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4382859226316214, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}