On March 16, 2017 and once again on March 1 of this year, editorials under the same hopeful title—“Save the Bay”—appeared in this spot. Both times the message was the same, a plea to restore threatened cuts of federal funding to the Chesapeake Bay Program.

In 2017, the Trump administration proposed slashing federal funding by 93 percent (from $73 million to $5 million). This year, the proposed cut was not quite as dramatic, but almost—90 percent, from $73 million to $7.3 million.

In 2017, and again this past week, Congress has overridden this presidential cut.

“I’m happy to report that the recent omnibus spending bill fully funds the Chesapeake Bay Program,” Rep. Rob Wittman wrote in an e-mail to his constituents on Thursday morning. “The full $73 million will go towards protecting, restoring and managing the watershed.”

In a bipartisan letter written in December to Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulv...