Sen. Barbara Boxer invoked Donald Trump’s campaign motto to drive home a point about the nation’s ailing water infrastructure, while scolding the Obama administration’s top environmental official for cutting drinking water funds.
“A lot of people say, ‘Let’s make America great again,'” the California Democrat said on Tuesday. “America is great. But how do we stand here with an infrastructure rated D,” comparable to that of developing countries?
The top Democrat on the Senate environment committee said it is “unacceptable” that 15-20 percent of Americans have lead pipes providing them drinking water, calling the water crisis in Flint, Mich., a wakeup call for the country in terms of its infrastructure problems.
Thousands of people in the factory town were exposed to dangerous levels of lead in their drinking water due to a cost-saving measure put in place by a state-appointed emergency manager. The state and EPA officials learned the lead levels were high but failed to warn residents.
“We have to continue to invest to address the nation’s failing water infrastructure,” Boxer said at a hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s fiscal 2017 budget request. She said the problem has far outstripped the money available under existing EPA programs. But the agency’s proposed cuts to a key state-revolving fund for drinking water infrastructure will “make this gap worse.”
She prodded EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, who testified before the committee on Tuesday, almost scolding her, saying, “I think it’s the role of EPA to get ahead of these kinds of crises. Not to whisper in the ears of the states, but to yell in the ears of the state when we know facts.”
McCarthy said the agency is looking for other ways to fund the state drinking water programs, but budget constraints are putting limits on their abilities.
Boxer said she is sympathetic. “But at the end of the day, I would like to see EPA fighting for a budget that meets the needs of the people.”
