Additional areas of focus for Bill include: border security, limiting the role of the federal government, preserving the Great Lakes, and creating a sensible balance between federal regulation and private sector job creation.
Preserve the Great Lakes.
Occurrences
protecting the Great Lakes
Bill’s other areas of focus include, protecting the sanctity of life, limiting the role of the federal government, preserving the Great Lakes
Evidence
Rep. Bill Huizenga joined a bipartisan coalition to introduce the GLRI Act of 2025, which would reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for another five years through FY 2031 and raise the FY 2026 authorization from $475 million to $500 million. Huizenga said he was proud to lead the effort to fund the program and make preserving, protecting, and strengthening the Great Lakes a national priority.
EPA states that GLRI remains active in fiscal years 2025-2029 under Action Plan IV, and that the program has produced 8,100+ projects, $4B+ in funding, delisted 7 AOCs, and removed 123 BUIs. The page says GLRI is a roadmap for how EPA and other federal agencies will address the most pressing Great Lakes issues during FY 2025-2029.
EPA says the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is the largest investment in the Great Lakes in two decades and funds grants, cooperative agreements, and direct implementation projects. The page was last updated May 7, 2026.
Rep. Huizenga's official House office said he and bipartisan Great Lakes Task Force members introduced the GLRI Act of 2025 to reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative through FY 2031 and increase FY 2026 authorization from $475 million to $500 million. Huizenga said GLRI cleans up legacy pollution, restores habitats, combats invasive species, and that he was proud to lead the effort to fund it.
Congress.gov lists H.R.1917, the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program Act of 2025, as passed by the House on July 22, 2025 by 360-57 and then received in the Senate on July 23, 2025. The bill status is Passed House, not Became Law.
The H.R.1917 text says the Great Lakes need a collaborative, science-based program for fish stocking, rehabilitation of important fish species, and habitat restoration. It would establish a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Great Lakes Mass Marking Program and authorize $2.7 million annually for FY 2026 through FY 2030.
The House Clerk records Roll Call 216 on July 22, 2025 for H.R.1917, Great Lakes Mass Marking Program Act. The vote passed 360-57, and Rep. Huizenga of Michigan is listed as voting Yea.
Congress.gov shows S.2878 became Public Law 119-67 on December 26, 2025. The enacted text reauthorizes funding to monitor, assess, and research the Great Lakes Basin by extending the authorization from 2025 to 2030; legislative history says it passed the House on December 15, 2025.
Public Law 119-74 authorizes the EPA Administrator to transfer up to $369,000,000 of funds appropriated for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to federal agencies and to make grants for planning, research, monitoring, outreach, and implementation supporting GLRI and Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement activities.
The House Clerk records Roll Call 7 on January 8, 2026 for H.R.6938, Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act, 2026. The bill passed 397-28, and Rep. Huizenga of Michigan is listed as voting Yea.
EPA says GLRI was launched in 2010 to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the largest system of fresh surface water in the world. EPA reports 8,100+ projects, $4B+ in funding, 7 Areas of Concern delisted since GLRI began, 123 beneficial use impairments removed, and 557,000+ acres of habitat restored and protected.
EPA's Great Lakes Funding page says the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is the largest investment in the Great Lakes in two decades and funds grants plus direct implementation of Great Lakes Legacy Act projects.
Huizenga's office said the Army Corps FY 2025 Work Plan included funding for Holland, Saugatuck, St. Joe, and South Haven harbors. The release listed dredging, assessments, sediment sampling, beach nourishment monitoring, and other operations and maintenance work, and said Huizenga had helped increase the percentage of Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund dollars going to the Great Lakes in 2020.
Assessments
Federal Great Lakes preservation efforts continued during Huizenga's service, including active GLRI implementation, FY 2026 GLRI appropriations, and enacted Great Lakes fishery research reauthorization. Huizenga also voted for relevant funding and House-passed Great Lakes legislation and helped introduce a GLRI reauthorization bill. However, the promise is broad and the evidence shows continued/shared federal preservation work rather than a Huizenga-attributable full delivery of preserving the Great Lakes; some Huizenga-backed measures were not enacted.
The evidence shows Huizenga took meaningful action toward the promise by helping lead and introduce the bipartisan GLRI Act of 2025 to reauthorize and expand funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. That is a serious, concrete legislative effort directly aligned with preserving the Great Lakes. However, the provided evidence does not show that his bill was enacted or that he personally secured a new completed preservation outcome beyond the continuation of an already-active federal program. EPA materials confirm GLRI is ongoing and funded, but they do not establish that Huizenga himself delivered the promise in full during the evaluated period. Because there was substantial effort and ongoing programmatic preservation, but no clear completed Huizenga-attributable fulfillment, partial credit is most appropriate.