Republican Senate candidate Tommy Thompson says a Great Lakes clean-up fund should go through a budget cut, like he's proposing for other federal programs. 

President George W. Bush helped create the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, but President Obama has supported the cleanup fund with hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson says the initiative is a worthwhile cause, but should be subject to some belt-tightening, "We should look at all budgets because we're spending ourselves into bankruptcy."

Environmentalists generally oppose cuts to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Joel Brammeier of the Alliance for the Great Lakes says the initiative is trying to repair years of neglect, "We're fixing a legacy of decades of damage."

Brammeier says the Great Lakes cleanup fund is an investment that benefits tourism and other industries.