Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017--Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I rise today, like many of my colleagues, to express frustration and outrage that we are once again considering leaving town without helping the people of Flint, MI, and people in other communities afflicted by lead poisoning across our Nation. It is the height of irresponsibility, and we are neglecting our duty as representatives of the American people.

It has now been over a year since doctors first reported that the high levels of lead in children's blood was caused by Flint's water supply. It has been 9 months since health officials reported that an increase in the cases of Legionnaires' disease was connected to the city of Flint after it changed its source of water, but still, the 100,000 residents of Flint are unable to drink the city's water, so they are still tied to bottled water.
Up to 12,000 children living in Flint now have to live with the specter of what their future might be after being exposed to lead in their water, and we know what lead does to developing brain cells. It leads to lower IQ scores, poor performance in school, inattention and impulsive behavior, as well as aggression and hyperactivity. It severely damages the prospects of the children it has poisoned.

This is a tragic story that has outraged our Nation. Yet here we are after more than a year, and we still have not taken action.

What have we done in this last year to help the families of Flint? While we have heard speech after speech in this Chamber, we have held hearings in which my colleagues have questioned Michigan officials about what happened and what needs to be done. There have been press conferences, there have been op-eds, there have been media interviews discussing the need to take action, but here we are without taking any action and without a bill on the President's desk.

Some here may say: Well, we passed the Water Resources Development Act, which did include money to assist the citizens of Flint, but we all know that the House hasn't passed their WRDA legislation. We all know that if they did pass their bill today, it doesn't have support for the citizens of Flint. We all know that a conference committee is far into the future since the House hasn't acted; therefore, a solution is not nearby. The prospect of a water development bill to aid the people of Flint by getting it to the President's desk is simply a hope, but it is a hope that is far away.

We have a better vehicle right here, right now, and that is the continuing resolution, which will make sure that the people of Flint get the help they need. It is the bird in the hand, not the bird in the bush. However, at this moment the continuing resolution before us does not contain a single cent for Flint or other communities affected by lead poisoning. It does contain millions of dollars for the people in Louisiana hurt by the terrible flooding that hit the State, and it is certainly the right thing to do to assist the citizens in Louisiana.

Thousands of families lost their homes, their belongings, and everything they owned. There were 60,000 homes damaged by the flood.

The Coast Guard, National Guard, and local first responders rescued more than 30,000 residents, and in the immediate aftermath, more than 7,000 were living in shelters.

What happened in Louisiana is a major natural disaster. It was the largest to hit our Nation since the devastation brought on by Hurricane Sandy. We need to act, but we also need to act on Flint and other cities affected by lead poisoning. Louisiana needs our help, and Flint needs our help.

When disaster strikes, we should not weigh our response by whether a community's representatives here in Congress are Democrats or Republicans. Disaster knows no party. When disaster strikes, we should not pay more attention to helping the rich and influential than assisting the poor. When disaster strikes, geography should not determine one's worthiness to receive assistance. When disaster strikes, race should play no part in our response, but when it comes to the failure to act on Flint, I believe that we in this Chamber should reflect on the role race has played.

Does anyone here think that it would take more than a year for Congress to act if this disaster in Flint had befallen a wealthy White suburb of Dallas or Orlando or Chicago or L.A., or if it were the upper middle-class White kids of lawyers and doctors and corporate executives who had been poisoned by lead? Does anyone here believe that we would have sat and done nothing?

But with Flint, which is a poor African-American community, we have done nothing. Our Nation was founded on a legacy of slavery and racism, but we were also founded on a vision of equality and opportunity, and we have moved step-by-step to put the legacy of discrimination behind us and to embrace the vision of equality and opportunity for all. We still have a long road ahead of us to achieve that vision in its entirety.

We have often been too slow to respond to the pain, the suffering, and the loss of life in our minority communities. That is why the phrase ``Black Lives Matter'' resonates powerfully. It is not OK to profile Americans based on race. It is not OK to target one community with stop-and-frisk tactics. It is not OK to treat one race as a client and another as a problem. Black lives matter, and it is time we acted like that here in the Senate.

Let's start by responding quickly from this point forward on this crisis in Flint. Let's respond with the same urgency as the crisis in Louisiana. The flooding in Louisiana wreaked havoc on Louisiana families, but we all know that the poisoned water in Flint, MI, wreaked havoc on the families there. If you go to Flint today, you see pallet after pallet filled with water, and it is scattered all over the city, necessary for drinking, cooking, washing dishes, and brushing teeth.

They use it because they don't have another choice.

Yes, the people of Louisiana have suffered a great loss, and I want to help them rebuild. But we know the people of Flint have suffered a great loss, and I want to help the people of Flint--not at some vague point after the election, not at some uncertain future date. They need action now. The people of Louisiana need action now, and the people of Flint need action now. Well, actually, they needed action a year ago.

We cannot choose between helping these two American communities. Both are suffering, both are in need, and both deserve our attention. We cannot play election-year politics with people's lives hanging in the balance. We must provide in this continuing resolution--the opportunity we have before us at this very moment--aid to help the citizens of both tragedies.

I hope that our leadership from the right of the aisle and our leadership on the left of the aisle come together to negotiate a compromise that treats the people of Louisiana and the people of Flint equally. If it doesn't, I will be voting against this continuing resolution, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I yield the floor.

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