[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13822-13823]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      FUNDING FOR FLINT, MICHIGAN

  Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I wish to take a moment to thank my 
colleagues for their ongoing support and patience as we continue to 
fight to deliver Federal support for Flint families. With an agreement 
earlier today to take up a bipartisan House amendment to the Water 
Resources Development Act, or WRDA, we have taken another step forward 
to finally put Flint on the road to recovery.
  Just a few days ago, we still had some Members in Congress who were 
refusing to allow even a vote to provide any assistance to the families 
in Flint, but with this agreement, we now have a commitment from the 
House leadership to move forward in helping Flint families. While I am 
pleased with this development, I remain disappointed that the passage 
of today's continuing resolution will not deliver Federal funding to 
Flint residents.
  To be clear, I strongly support continuing to fund the government, 
and I believe there are many good policies in the CR. It contains 
resources to address the spread of the Zika virus and disaster relief 
for flood victims, both of which I support a great deal. In fact, we 
know the threat Zika poses to our Nation's public health, and it is 
critical that we have finally passed funding to accelerate vaccine 
development, prevent Zika transmission, and boost public health efforts 
to the impacted communities. In addition to addressing these 
emergencies, I also support the inclusion of legislation to fully fund 
military construction and the VA for the coming year.
  As a former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, I support 
investments in VA programs, military personnel, and family housing for 
our servicemembers. This critical funding will also address disability 
claims processing, the health care needs of female veterans, and the 
urgent need to modernize the VA's information technology systems. 
Inclusion of veterans funding and resources to fight Zika had broad 
bipartisan agreement, but I think it is important to know the Senate 
also reached consensus on providing much needed relief to the victims 
in Flint by passing a WRDA bill earlier with 95 votes, but these fully 
paid-for Flint resources were put on hold while disaster relief for 
flood victims in Louisiana was included in the CR. I support helping 
the people of Louisiana, but I also strongly believe we should not be 
in a position where we pick some States to help and not others. 
Everybody, no matter who they are or where they live, if they are 
facing a crisis, if the U.S. Congress is going to help those in need, 
we need to help everyone regardless of where they live. Americans are 
Americans regardless of the State in which they reside; therefore, I 
could not support a government spending bill that will once again force 
the citizens of Flint to wait for the help they so desperately need.
  It is simply unacceptable that a bipartisan, fully offset Flint aid 
package was left out of the CR. There is no excuse whatsoever for 
leaving the people of Flint behind. It has been a year since the first 
public health emergency declaration was made in Flint and over 8 months 
since a national emergency was declared. Yet almost 100,000 residents 
of Flint still do not have a reliable source of safe water. They are 
still using bottled water to drink, cook, and bathe.
  I deeply appreciate the progress we have made so far, but Flint 
families should not have to wait any longer. When a disaster strikes in 
this country, we pull together to help each other out. We should do 
that for all communities. We shouldn't tell people who have waited so 
long--yet we are telling them--to get to the back of the line. This is 
why I cannot support this bill which prioritizes one State's emergency 
over another.
  We should do right by the people of Flint as well as the victims of 
flooding, Zika, and other national emergencies.
  Over the coming weeks, I will be working to ensure that we follow 
through on the promises that were made to the people of Flint this week 
in both Chambers of Congress. We must send a bill to the President that 
will help the people of Flint continue to replace their damaged pipes 
so they can turn their faucets on and have clean, safe water flowing 
from their taps once again. I certainly hope and expect that my 
colleagues in both Chambers will not let the people of Flint down in 
their desperate time of need.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  (The remarks of Mr. Coons and Mr. Booker pertaining to the 
introduction of S. 3432 are printed in today's Record under 
``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PERDUE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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