Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan

Floor Speech

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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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