Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, today I wish to speak, once again, about how critically important it is to pass legislation that will finally help the people of Flint repair their devastated drinking water system. We have before us a water resources bill that was identified a long time ago as the vehicle to assist Flint during their still-ongoing water crisis. We have been working for months and months on this. We have had strong commitments from leaders in both parties and on both sides of the Hill.

The Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, formerly known as the WRDA bill, includes funding authorizations for communities that have had a drinking water emergency, as well as language authorizing increases in health funding and lead exposure prevention. But the actual appropriations funding for these provisions are contained in the Continuing Resolution.

The bottom line is this: For Flint and any other future communities with drinking water emergencies to receive money, this body must pass both the water resources bill and the continuing resolution. This may be the last, best chance to secure the long-overdue assistance that the people of Flint deserve.

The families in Flint have suffered through unspeakable hardships over the last couple years. To this day, many are still using bottled water to drink, cook, wash their dishes, and even take sponge baths.
After Thanksgiving, it broke my heart to see the famous ``Little Miss Flint'' post on social media about how it took 144 bottles of water to prepare Thanksgiving dinner.

Can you imagine having to open 144 bottles of water simply just to cook your Thanksgiving meal? These same people have heard promise after promise that they will get the help that they need to put new pipes in the ground. Some of that work has started, and the water quality is slowly starting to improve. Still, the fact remains that Flint residents still cannot access clean drinking water directly from their taps.

We shouldn't forget that the Flint provisions in the water resources and the CR also contains language to set up nationally significant programs and policies to help prevent and respond to any future emergencies that are similar to the Flint water crisis. The bills include money for a lead monitoring registry and an associated expert advisory committee, as well as for a childhood lead prevention and a better public notification process.
The water resources legislation also has nationally significant, bipartisan provisions to restore some of our Nation's great bodies of water, such as the Great Lakes, Everglades, Lake Tahoe, the Delaware River Basin, and more. Not to mention this bill contains critical projects for reducing the risk of flood damage, as well as maintaining our navigational waterways and harbors. But I must recognize that this bill is flawed and imperfect. I was very disappointed to see last- minute changes to provisions that threatened the bill's strong, bipartisan support.

The WRDA bill passed the Senate by a vote of 95-3 just a few months ago, but these new changes to the text threaten to dismantle that support. We must make tough decisions in Congress, and the vote on this compromise bill will certainly be a hard choice for several of my colleagues. But I would ask you think hard about the balance of this bill and measure all the benefits of the many positive provisions. And I would ask you to think about our responsibility to care for communities in crisis.

We will soon have a chance to deliver on a long-standing promise for some unbelievably resilient and strong people. I urge you to follow through on that promise by voting in support of the water resources bill and continuing resolution. Thank you.

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