America's Small Business Tax Relief Act Of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, it is very hard for me to believe I am once again standing on this floor. I have to come before my colleagues in the Senate to report that despite the fact that we have been building bipartisan support for legislation that will address the catastrophic situation in Flint, we still have one Senator standing in the way of this coming to a vote.

It has been now nearly 2 months since Senator Stabenow and I introduced legislation to deal with the catastrophic crisis in the city of Flint, MI. Since that time, we have been able to build a broad coalition of folks on both sides of the aisle, Republican cosponsors who have joined with us to say it is time for this body, it is time for the Senate, to stand and help those in need in the city of Flint, as well as issues all across this country. Senator Stabenow and I offered legislation, along with Senator Inhofe, and a long list of Democrats and Republicans, including Senators Burr, Capito, Kirk, and Portman, have been working very closely with Senator Murkowski as chair of the committee as well.

Yet we have one Senator, one Senator who says that is not enough. He wants to have more, and he is standing in the way of the people of Flint getting the help they desperately need. He is standing in the way of children like this young infant who appeared on the cover of Time magazine. To me, those eyes are very compelling, and I think those eyes are very compelling to every American who has witnessed what has happened in that city, who has witnessed the horror and the tragedy of having poisoned water going into people's bodies for many months while the State government dropped the ball.

I will say folks around the country have responded. There has been an outpouring of help from people in every corner of this great country of ours. People have sent bottled water. They have sent filters and are providing resources. It is what our country does. It is what our people do when we see people in crisis. We stand and lend that helping hand. We know any one of us at any time could be in that situation. The wonderful thing about being an American is that as Americans we look out for each other. We know we are a community, a very special place in this world, and we look out for each other.

That is why people back home in Michigan--and as I travel around the country--people are at a loss and wondering why the U.S. Congress hasn't done something to address this issue. When I tell them we have legislation that will help deal with infrastructure, not just in Flint but in communities all across the country, that will plus-up public health programs to deal with lead poisoning at a time when we realize lead poisoning is not just an issue for Flint but is an issue for communities all across this country and one we need to focus on and probably ignored for far too long, they wonder why we have not acted. When I tell them we have one Senator--just one Senator--standing in the way, it only adds to their belief that this is a dysfunctional place; that partisanship and polarization have prevented this body from doing what is right.

We can't forget the people of Flint, and I know many of my colleagues on the Senate floor have not. That is why we have been able to get broad support from both Democrats and Republicans, who have come together and said to both my senior Senator, Ms. Stabenow, and me: We understand it is a problem in Flint, but we also understand it is a problem in other communities around the country. Let us design legislation to deal with that.

That is what we have before us. We have legislation that will provide money for those cities that may be in a declared emergency, which is where we are with the city of Flint, but we also know there may be other communities in this country--in fact, we think there will be a community very soon--that will also have a declared water emergency that will be able to access those funds. We also know aging infrastructure is not unique to the city of Flint. It is with cities all across the country, especially older urban areas that have lead surface lines, but there are certainly many rural areas that have that as well. Those pipes need to be taken out.

In this legislation, we create a fund that will allow money to be loaned to those communities--oftentimes, communities that don't have a lot of resources but desperately need infrastructure improvement. It is a loan fund that will be paid back to the taxpayers but will extend the money necessary to make improvements that truly will be lifesaving improvements for the citizens in those cities.

We also plus-up a number of public health programs from the CDC that deal with lead poisoning in children.

The insidious thing about lead poisoning is that once it gets into the brain of a young child--like this child who is looking at us right now in this picture I have in the Chamber--it has lasting effects. It has lifetime effects. We need not only to embrace that child with our love but understand that the child is going to need health care for decades. That child is going to need educational support to be able to pursue his or her version of the American dream that he or she may have. They are going to need to have, in addition to education and health care, good nutrition, making sure the food they eat will provide their bodies with the nourishment that can counter some of the impacts of lead.

But it is not just the children; it is everybody in the city of Flint. Senior citizens have also been impacted. I have gone door to door in Flint and worked with volunteers, including the American Red Cross, delivering bottled water to the people of Flint. I never thought I would have to go with the American Red Cross to deliver bottled water to a community because the water they were getting out of their pipes was poisoned--not in this country, not in the United States of America. But that is what people are doing, and filters as well are being given door to door.

The people of Flint are appreciative. Please know they are extremely appreciative of the generosity they have seen from people across this country and from FEMA response as well, but they are also frustrated. People can't bathe with bottled water. They are cooking and cleaning food--all of the basic things we take for granted each and every day. It is simply impossible to live just on bottled water and have that bottled water delivered to them every few days. It is not a workable system. It is unacceptable, and it certainly should be unacceptable to everybody in this country.

That is why we need to have a long-term solution. It has to be a long-term solution that will fix the problem permanently by making sure the infrastructure improvements are there, lead pipes are pulled out, but makes sure other support services are going to be there for decades.

My fear for the people of the city of Flint is that although they have been the beneficiaries of a great outpouring of love and support from people around the country, they have been able to get that because the spotlight has been on Flint and the TV cameras are in Flint. We all know in today's media world that those cameras will eventually go away. There won't be media attention for Flint. There won't be the bright lights of publicity motivating people to do what is needed in the city of Flint. When those lights go down and when it goes dark, the people of the city of Flint will still be confronted with this absolutely catastrophic situation that is impacting them in their homes. It is impacting businesses--businesses that have been rocked as a result of this. People don't want to go to restaurants because they are not sure of the water there. Real estate values have plummeted. This is a different kind of a disaster than a natural disaster if a hurricane goes through or a tornado goes through. Then we can rebuild, and it can be as good as new.

Our concern with Flint is that there will always be this stigma attached to the city as a result of this, and if that stigma is there, it is going to make it even more difficult.

The people of Flint are resilient and courageous and brave and strong. They will survive, but we need to be there to lend that helping hand. That is why it is even more frustrating to me, given the fact that when we have natural disasters across this country, this body--the Senate--acts. We send money. We help those local governments. The State governments provide help.

Now, I know some colleagues have said that this is not a natural disaster, that this is a manmade disaster. All I can say is to ask that child when he or she grows up: Does it make a difference that it was a manmade disaster or a natural disaster? Ask the senior citizen in Flint right now. Ask the parent who is concerned about that child. Does it make any difference? I don't think any American here thinks it makes a difference. There isn't anybody in this country who thinks it makes a difference. A disaster is a disaster.

Now, it is true the State government messed up horribly in Michigan. In fact, the Governor's own task force that he appointed to look into it clearly points the finger at the State of Michigan and the incompetence that was shown by the government of the State of Michigan. That is a given. They are primarily responsible and need to step up, and they have. But they need to do a whole lot more than what they have done so far.

But even though the State has to do that and must do that, that doesn't prevent us, the Federal Government, from also standing up and saying: We can help as well because that is what we do. It is what the American people expect us to do. I certainly hope my colleagues will help Senator Stabenow and I move this legislation forward. If we can't get around this one Senator who wants to constantly move the goalpost, who wants to change the basis of negotiations even though this legislation is completely paid for--we have used a pay-for that Senator Stabenow fought for, authored to help manufacturers in the Midwest. I fought aggressively to keep that fund when I was a Member of the House. This is something that is important to us, but we know that dealing with a catastrophic situation in Flint and water infrastructure across this country so that we don't have any more Flints is more important. That money will be used to help the people of Flint and communities across this country. Not only does it pay for this, but it actually reduces the deficit at the same time.

I think it is important to say that usually when a disaster hits this country, we don't look for pay-fors. We step up and provide money for people in need. We have been asked to come up with a pay-for, and we did--completely paid for while reducing the Federal deficit at the same time. Yet we have one Senator who wants more. He wants more.

I don't know how that one Senator can hold up something that has been able to get this kind of bipartisan support and can hold up something that is so important to this child in this picture. How can you stand in the way? If that one Senator does not like this legislation, that is fine. They can vote against it. But allow the other 99 Senators in this body an opportunity to have their say. That is the way this institution is supposed to work.

I still believe in this institution. I still believe the Senate can do better than allowing one Member to stand in the way of helping this child and other children just like this one.

It is now our task as Members of this body to come together and say: Enough is enough. We are going to help somebody in this country no matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter the circumstances. If you have been hit by a major disaster, we will stand with you. We will help you. That is who we are as Americans. It goes to the very core of our values.

It is now up to my colleagues here in the Senate to please join Senator Stabenow and me and our long list of both Democratic and Republican cosponsors. Put this legislation on the floor. Let's vote on it, let's pass it, and let's help the people of Flint and other folks all across the country.

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