Democrats are threatening to block a comprehensive energy bill from passing if Republican senators don’t back an aid package for the city of Flint, Mich., which is struggling with lead-contaminated drinking water.
“Well, if they don’t work with us, I think it’s a big question of whether they get cloture” to move ahead with the bill, said Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan on Wednesday. “If they want an energy bill, then they need to help us.”
Stabenow, with the support of her state’s delegation and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., proposed adding a $600 million aid package for Flint, after a plan to change the source of the city’s water supply led to lead contamination.
The amendment’s funding allocation would help Flint replace its water infrastructure while establishing a center to make sure a similar crisis doesn’t happen again.
Stabenow said she had “tools” as a senator to use if the leadership doesn’t budge on adding the amendment.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said adding additional spending to the energy bill is a “bad idea,” especially “for something that’s a local and state responsibility.” He said Congress wouldn’t “write a blank check.”
Nevertheless, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the energy committee chairwoman and co-sponsor of the energy bill, is working with Stabenow, Cornyn said.
