[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 144 (Thursday, September 22, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5976-S5977]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FUNDING FOR FLINT, MICHIGAN

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, this has been a roller coaster time for 
those of us who care deeply about what happened over 2\1/2\ years ago 
in the city of Flint with a system that was not treated properly and 
exposed 100,000 people in Flint to lead poisoning.
  We had a great vote last week, and I am very grateful to Senator 
Inhofe and Senator Boxer, who came together, working with Senator 
Peters and me, to put together a larger water bill that included an 
effort to help Flint families as well as other communities that have 
exposure to lead in their water. That effort had a final vote of 95 to 
3. This was a very positive moment.
  Today, just a little while ago, it was just the opposite. We have an 
opportunity to complete the job we started last week and include this 
fully offset package in this budget bill in front of us, the continuing 
resolution. Yet the Republican leader did not do that. What adds insult 
to injury is, there is help for Louisiana but not for the families of 
Flint, and I might add, ours is fully offset. There is no offset in 
spending, there are no other programs cut to pay for the help for 
Louisiana, but I offered to phase out a program I sponsored in 2007--
that doesn't happen a lot around here--in order to pay for this 
emergency in Flint and help other communities with lead in their water 
across the country. So we have something fully paid for and for which 
there should be absolutely no objection.
  I would love to know the objection to helping a group of people--
100,000 people in Flint and other families across the country in 
Jackson, MS, New York, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, and across the 
country--with something fully paid for. What is the objection to 
putting that into this continuing resolution if the other side of the 
aisle is willing to put in something that doesn't have an offset in it 
to help the people in Louisiana?
  I support helping the people in Louisiana. I believe we are in this 
together as a country. As Americans, I think, no matter the emergency, 
we should be willing to help each other. We have had a variety of 
emergencies over the years, such as the fertilizer company in West, TX, 
where there was an explosion a few years ago. It was not a flood, not a 
hurricane, not a drought but a fertilizer explosion, and people were 
exposed. The Federal Government stepped in to help, and that wasn't 
fully paid for either.
  Here we have a situation with 100,000 people--9,000 children under 
the age of 6--who are seriously exposed to lead and that exposure will 
affect their development, physically and mentally, for the rest of 
their lives. They have now waited--they have waited--over 1 year since 
they knew what was happening. We have finally gotten to a point where 
we have strong bipartisan support in the Senate, and this is easy to 
put this in this bill--easy. But we are in a situation where we are 
saying to the people of Flint: Well, wait just 3 more months. Wait 
until the end of the year. I guess the other question is, Why don't 
people in Louisiana wait until the end of the year? I think we should 
help both of them now.
  In Flint, we literally have people getting up in the morning and 
saying: OK. I have to take the kids to the school. Should I pick up the 
bottle of water before I take them to school or after? Gosh. Now, I 
don't have a car, but can I get somebody to help me go over before I go 
to work--pick up the bottle of water now or later? We are going to have 
to spend some time because it is not easy to use bottled water and do a 
shower for yourself and the kids, let alone for cooking and all of the 
other things we take for granted every day. People in Flint, for almost 
2 years, have been having to deal with this every single day.
  If this were happening to us, we would view it as an emergency. A 
decade ago--I don't know, 10 or 12 years ago--when Washington, DC, had 
lead in the water, somehow everybody came together to get that fixed. 
There was a concern about the water in the Cannon House Office 
Building, and that got fixed. I have a funny feeling if something 
happened in Wisconsin, the Speaker would decide that was serious enough 
to fix that, but we have a group of people in Flint, MI, who trusted 
their elected officials and who have been waiting--actually, incredibly 
patiently--for action so they can turn on the faucet and have clean 
water.
  They had such hopes last week. This was a great moment of people 
coming together, 95 to 3, on a bill that would not only help families 
in Flint but across the country. That is how we are supposed to govern. 
We did that concerning the lead in the water in Flint. We went the 
extra mile to make sure that was fully offset by phasing out another 
program to pay for it.
  Literally, this package could go anywhere. It could go by itself by 
voice vote today. It could go any number of places, but it needs to 
happen now. To see the continuing resolution come to the floor with 
help for Louisiana and not for the families of Flint is outrageous. It 
is just outrageous. I will do everything in my power to make sure this 
does not happen. We are not--we are not, I am not--going to support an 
effort that says to the people of Flint: You don't count. Your child 
doesn't count. We care about people in Louisiana. Oh, they count, but 
people in Flint, MI, don't count. We don't see them. We don't care.
  Well, we do see them. We do care about them. We spent 8 months 
putting together a bipartisan coalition in the Senate, and I am 
grateful for that. As I said before, Senator Inhofe has been terrific 
to work with. We were so pleased last week that we were on track to get 
this done and then to find out that when we now have this opportunity 
and we had this huge vote--a bipartisan, fully offset, paid-for package 
to move it forward--suddenly Flint doesn't count. Flint families don't 
count. Flint children don't count. But for Louisiana, which wasn't in 
the WRDA bill--or so far we haven't voted on it separately--we need to 
help Louisiana. By the way, let me say again, I am happy to support 
Louisiana, but

[[Page S5977]]

the help for Louisiana and the help for Flint need to be done the same.
  Let me finally say----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has used 8 minutes.
  Ms. STABENOW. I thank the Chair.
  I want to actually turn and give 2 minutes to my colleague who has 
been my great partner in this, but I want to close by saying this. 
There is one other provision in this bill that is outrageous and that 
continues dark money in campaigns from having to be reported. So this 
continuing resolution is saying yes to dark money and no to children 
with lead poisoning in Flint, and that is not acceptable.
  Now to my partner Senator Peters.
  Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I thank Senator Stabenow for yielding me 
her remaining time. I couldn't concur more with what she had to say.
  This is another day. It seems like we are down here on the floor all 
of the time talking about the crisis in Flint, asking for help, and 
demanding that folks step up to help the people of Flint. We are so 
close to doing it.
  As the Senator mentioned, we came with incredible bipartisan support, 
95 votes--a program fully paid for that the Senator authored, a program 
that I fought for as a Member of the U.S. House. Now we are saying this 
is so important that we are willing to take this program, use these 
funds to help the people of Flint. But the people can't wait any 
longer. In this body, the Senate should not be about picking and 
choosing specific States to help, specific cities to help, specific 
neighborhoods. It should be about all of America: No matter who you 
are, no matter where you live, when you are hurting, we will step up as 
the American people and help those folks in need. That is all we are 
asking.
  A program that is fully paid for and has strong bipartisan support--
this seems to be a very easy thing to do, which is why I am at a loss 
to understand why it can't be put in a CR when it had such broad 
support and when it is clear people have been waiting for months. We 
had families in Washington last week, a woman, a mom, talking about her 
daughter whose teeth are crumbling when she bites into sandwiches 
because of the damage related to lead poisoning. She has blood levels 
going up and down with lead; it is still not under control. She was in 
tears. She was at a loss. She felt some hope when the WRDA bill passed. 
But if we don't take action and we leave to go back to our States for 
the month of October, who knows when we were going to bring this up. 
This is wrong.
  The people of Flint have waited long enough. The people of Flint have 
suffered enough. This is our opportunity as the Senate to rise up and 
to say: Every American's life is important. Every American's life is 
one that we celebrate. Every child should have opportunities.
  We can put this in the CR. We can pass it and send a strong signal to 
the people of Flint that their lives matter.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, if there is a moment left, I wish to 
underscore that we are not asking to pit communities against each 
other. We are not asking colleagues to say no to Louisiana. We are 
asking colleagues to say yes to Flint and Louisiana and understand that 
your ZIP Code doesn't matter. We have the obligation to step up when 
there is an emergency and help American families. That is all we are 
asking for the people of Flint.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.

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