[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 9, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WATER CRISIS IN FLINT, MICHIGAN
(Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute.)
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, this past weekend I had the opportunity to
travel with Congressman Dan Kildee, Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence,
Congressman Sander Levin, and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell--we were
joined by other Members of Congress, Sheila Jackson Lee, for example--
to see firsthand the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
I just want to report to Members of the House and the people of this
country that what I saw was appalling. At this point, so many weeks
after the lead crisis was identified, to have no central medical team
examining those children is a sacrilege. To have no water buffalo
supplied by the National Guard with pressurized PVC tubing taking water
to people's homes, rather than just this bottle delivery; to have no
hot showers that are portable, which the military has, that they could
put in the schools in that community, to me, was absolutely appalling.
I was told that the Governor of that State had not even met with the
people of the community. He had come in for a press conference. Is that
what this is about?
I met children who had hemorrhages and ulcers from drinking that
water, who had black rashes all over their bodies with pus.
Our country has a responsibility to the citizens of this country.
There ought to be a central coordinator. If that Governor can't appoint
one, the President of the United States should. Those children and the
citizens of that city ought to be taken care of.
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