During the past four years, the United States (US) government has taken unprecedented action to protect and restore the Great Lakes. In 2009, President Barack Obama launched the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to coordinate the work of 16 federal agencies that implement over 140 separate Great Lakes programs and to supplement the resources they need to do their jobs. A growing number of members of Congress from the Great Lakes region—from both sides of the aisle—stepped forward to support and sustain the Initiative. Then, in 2012, the US and Canada amended the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement to address climate change, invasive species, and other environmental threats that that were not even acknowledged when the agreement was last updated 25 years ago.