Democratic lawmakers from Michigan want to ensure that funding for the city of Flint is included in an emergency spending bill that must be passed April 28.
“Without additional help from the federal government, the people of Flint may not be able to fully recover,” read a letter sent Monday by the Michigan delegation to the House appropriations committee.
Flint made national headlines last year after the drinking water in the town became contaminated with lead. The contamination was caused when a governor appointee diverted Flint’s water supply from its normal water source to the polluted Flint River.
The Michigan Democrats, led by Rep. Daniel Kildee, said it has been three years “since state officials switched the city’s water source to save money,” and still the 100,000 residents of the city “do not have access to safe drinking water.”
Even though funding for the city was included in last year’s spending bill, “the crisis in Flint is not over” and the federal government has a “financial and moral responsibility to provide additional resources,” the letter read.
Flint residents still need filters to drink their tap water.
The Environmental Protection Agency provided $100 million last month to help the city replace its lead water pipes, which are old and heavily corroded. But most of what the Democrats want funded are social programs, such as Head Start and Early Head Start, which are aimed at improving learning for preschoolers. They also want to ensure full funding for childhood lead poisoning prevention programs.
They even agreed with President Trump’s proposal to increase funding for the Healthy Homes Program to remove lead from homes. Trump’s budget blueprint from last month increased funding for the program by $20 million.
