Let's not rain on the Great Lakes' chance to have a parade before it even starts.
A $23.5-billion tab -- the cost of a plan to fix the lakes that was introduced last week in Congress -- sounds daunting. But spread over five years, this equals only about 1% of what the Defense Department spends annually. Also, the chief sponsors of the bill, including Michigan's Carl Levin in the Senate and Vern Ehlers in the House, have put together a smart package that resonates beyond the Great Lakes basin.
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