"Sen. Chris Van Hollen was quizzing the new secretary of agriculture nominee about cuts proposed for the Chesapeake Bay program at a recent hearing when a senator who represents a state far from Maryland chimed in.

Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio had essentially the same question, but was focused on the Great Lakes.

Brown — like Van Hollen, a Democrat — wanted to know why President Donald Trump had proposed eliminating federal funding for the environmental effort that was finally beginning to bring those waters back to life.

'The irony,' Brown said, 'is it was Great Lake states that really won him the election.'"

John Fritze reports for the Baltimore Sun May 25, 2017. [2]