Florida's U.S. Senators, Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, this week called on Senate leaders to immediately take up and pass legislation aimed at helping mitigate the toxic algae blooms that are plaguing South Florida.
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Nelson and Rubio urged the leaders to bring this year’s Water Resources Development Act to the Senate floor for a vote as soon as possible.
The bill includes funding for a massive reservoir project south of Lake Okeechobee designed to store and clean some of the water being released from the lake before it goes into the nearby waterways.
Nelson, who has been pushing his colleagues to approve the funding needed for the massive reservoir project known as the Everglades Agricultural Area, was able to get the project included in this year’s WRDA bill.
The joint letter is not uncommon for the two.
Both Nelson and Rubio have found multiple occasions where they have common ground, and have used their combined clout to get many issues moved to the forefront of discussion.