[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 188 (Tuesday, October 26, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H5875-H5876]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        AMERICA'S FAILING WATER INFRASTRUCTURE MUST BE REPLACED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. O'Halleran). The Chair recognizes the 
gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Tlaib) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, we can't build back better without replacing 
every inch of lead service line in our country.
  In too many of our communities from Flint to Benton Harbor to the 
cities of Wayne and Hamtramck and across the State of Michigan and our 
Nation, the water is poisoned with lead.
  We have an opportunity now to change it, with a bold and clear 
investment to replace every single lead-contaminated service line in 
our Nation.

[[Page H5876]]

  Experts have already estimated that we need $60 billion to replace 
every service lead pipeline in America. But we know the Senate 
proposal--which was negotiated without a shred of input from frontline 
communities or their representatives--only devotes $15 billion. That is 
just simply not enough.
  People are drinking water with lead now, and we know which 
communities lose out when there isn't enough money to go around. They 
are communities that look like mine. It is environmental justice 
neighborhoods.

  We must--we must--do more, and we already have secured another $30 
billion in Build Back Better to get us closer to our goal. Again, a 
clear way to bring us all together is making sure that we all have 
access to clean water.
  There are 2.65 million service lines in Michigan, and over 12 percent 
of those lines are contaminated with lead. To replace these lead pipes 
in Michigan alone, it would cost $1.65 billion.
  Again, I ask everyone, how can we build back better when children are 
being poisoned?
  Benton Harbor in Michigan needs $11.4 million to provide clean water 
to its residents. We just discovered new lead-contaminated issues in 
the cities of Wayne and Hamtramck in Michigan. That is why it is 
critical that the Federal Government, our government, steps up with 
bold and aggressive investment.
  In 2018 a report from the Natural Resources Defense Council revealed 
that between 2015 and 2018 about 5.5 million Americans in communities 
around the Nation got their water from a system that exceeded the EPA's 
lead action level of 15 parts per billion. That is just the stuff we 
know about. We know that there is more.
  The threat of lead-contaminated water is a longstanding one that has 
overwhelmingly impacted communities like mine, low-income communities, 
communities of color, for decades. And yet we have not done anything 
meaningful for a very long time to really, truly remove lead service 
lines.
  We continue waking up to stories about children being poisoned with 
lead and cities handing out bottled water because we have failed to 
invest in our water infrastructure. Folks are being forced to drink, 
bathe, cook, and wash dishes with water that is literally contaminated 
with lead because politicians have put their well-being on the back 
burner.
  On top of it all, the leaky, outdated infrastructure also means many 
of those same people can't even afford to pay for water that is being 
poisoned. Literally, they are paying money for water that is 
contaminated with lead. Some people in Washington like to pretend to 
worry about how we are going to pay for lead pipe replacement, but what 
we really can't afford is another moment of inaction.
  Clean, affordable drinking water is a human right. There are Flints 
and Benton Harbors and cities of Wayne and Hamtramck in every part of 
this country, communities right now where children are drinking water 
that can alter the course of their lives forever.
  So please join me in replacing lead service lines across the country. 
It is a moral imperative. We need to immediately pass the full $45 
billion in the Senate proposal as well as the Build Back Better 
proposal. Again, there is no building back without it.

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