Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow urged the Senate not to take its scheduled recess next week to stay in the Capitol and pass funding for Flint, Mich.
The city of 100,000 people in eastern Michigan has been affected by a drinking water crisis for more than two years due to lead contamination brought on by a switch in water sources. Stabenow, a Democrat, said the Senate should not leave town until something is done.
“We should have acted sooner in the United States Senate and sent a bill to the House so that we could help Flint rebuild their water system,” she said.
A deal to help Flint and other cities with lead water problems took a major step forward Thursday onto the Senate floor as a part of the Water Resource Development Act of 2016. A deal that was previously blocked from being in an energy bill that passed the Senate last week is included in the language of the act.
The deal would make $100 million available to any state experiencing a drinking water emergency, provide $70 million to back secured loans to upgrade clean water and drinking infrastructure, and authorize $50 million in funding for health programs to address and prevent the effects of lead exposure. Department of Energy advanced vehicle fund would be used to pay for the package.
The deal in the energy bill died under opposition from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and other Republicans who didn’t want federal dollars to pay for what they see as a state problem.
In addition to the $220 million deal for Flint and other communities, the Water Resource Development Act of 2016 includes $1.4 billion in spending over the next five years to update water infrastructure in those places. Included in those plans are $300 million over the next five years to replace lead pipes and $100 million over the next five years to test for lead in the water in schools and daycare centers.
Funding for Flint was one of the myriad reasons that Stabenow and other Senate Democrats held a press conference Thursday to urge their Republican colleagues to cancel next week’s recess. The others were the financial crisis in Puerto Rico, the failure to confirm a new Supreme Court justice, and more funding to tackle the Zika virus and the opioid crisis.
Stabenow said the American people want the Senate to act on these issues and families in Flint need help as soon as possible.
“We have seen people in Flint nervously waiting, panicked about what’s happening to their children, not being able to drink the water,” she said.
