On Monday, a bipartisan group of Florida congressional members continued their push for U.S. House committees to allocate the $200 million the president directed towards Everglades restoration in the federal budget.

The effort was organized by Democratic U.S. Reps. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Alcee Hasting, as well as Republican U.S. Reps. Brian Mast and Francis Rooney. In all, 16 of the state's 27 House members joined the push.



In a letter to the chair and ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee (U.S. Reps. Nita Lowey, D-New York, and Kay Granger, R-Texas) and the chair and ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development (U.S. Reps. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho), the bipartisan group writes:

"South Florida Ecosystem Restoration is the annual line-item in the Energy and Water Appropriations Act that is critically important to funding the multi-decade and intricate series of overlapping project features necessary to achieve the national priority of Everglades restoration. … As you know, on May 13, the President submitted a budget amendment to the Corps of Engineers Construction request for a total funding level of $200 million for South Florida Ecosystem Restoration. We urge the committee to allocate the $200 million requested by the President for South Florida Ecosystem Restoration during full committee markup of the Energy and Water Appropriations Act."

Democratic U.S. Reps. Al Lawson, Stephanie Murphy, Darren Soto, Ted Deutch and Donna Shalala, as well as Republican U.S. Reps. Matt Gaetz, Ted Yoho, Michael Waltz, Bill Posey, Daniel Webster, Vern Buchanan and Greg Steube, also signed the letter.

Florida Democratic U.S. Reps, Debbie Wasserman Schulz, Lois Frankel and Charlie Crist, as well as Florida Republican U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and John Rutherford, sit on the House Appropriations Committee.



Wasserman Schulz and Frankel sit on the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, as well.

After proposing a mere $63 million for ongoing Everglades restoration projects in his original budget proposal, President Donald Trump announced last week that his administration will ante up the amount of $200 million, which was the original amount requested by the Florida delegation in April.

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