Regulatory Integrity Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I am opposed.

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Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended.

This bill is yet another Republican attempt to delay the formation of critical regulations, including those we need to keep our communities safe. In addition, this bill actually prohibits agencies from publicly communicating to the American people about why a proposed regulation or action is beneficial, including vital information about the impact on public health. We cannot allow the underlying bill to impede the government's ability to share critical public health information.

Mr. Speaker, my motion to recommit is pretty simple. It would allow agencies to provide critical information to the public in order to combat public health crises, like Zika, like opioid abuse, or like the lead poisoning that has been experienced in my hometown of Flint. I know what happens when we ignore or impede the ability to enforce regulations. Thousands of children in my hometown of Flint, Michigan, have suffered from lead poisoning.

Even now, I know many Members on both sides of the aisle ask: How is it going in Flint? They often ask me: Is this crisis over; has it been settled? Today, a year after this crisis became public, 2 years after the State of Michigan switched Flint's drinking water source from the Great Lakes to the Flint River in order to save money, 2 years later, 2 years after lead has poured through the pipes into the bodies of children, you still can't drink the water in Flint.

If you came to Flint today, you would see families still lugging bottled water from distribution sites into their homes to drink, to cook, to bathe their children in bottled water. In the 21st century, in the greatest country on Earth, the wealthiest nation ever imagined, we have a city of 100,000 people that can't drink the water that comes from the tap because it is poisoned.

Federal standards require action if water gets above 15 parts per billion. Because the State of Michigan ignored the regulations and assured the public that the water was safe, we have levels in Flint that have been tested not at 15 parts per billion, 150 parts per billion, 1500 parts per billion, 23,000 parts per billion in the city of Flint today, a year after this crisis became public.

How did this happen? It happened because State agencies decided that dollars and cents come before the health of people, ignored the regulations that are on the books, were prevented from explaining that to the people, and, in fact, told them a story that the water was safe. And a year later--a year later--the State has barely acted, sending Flint a get-well card. As many of you know, I have come to this well time and time again, imploring my colleagues to join me in providing some relief to the people of Flint.

I came here with a lot of folks in 2012, when I was elected. In 2013, one of the first votes I cast on the floor of the House of Representatives was to provide help, much-needed help to the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Not my district, none of that money flowed to my district, but I was proud--I am still proud of that vote because I and so many of us stood with Americans who were facing the biggest struggle they ever faced. Yet, a year later, in this poor community, which in many ways has been left behind before, you still can't drink the water in Flint, and we can't get even a little help to try to rebuild this community.

Look, time matters. We can't wait more months. Every day, every week that passes that this community does not get the help it needs just to make sure that this doesn't happen again, just to fix the distribution system, to replace some of those lead lines so that a year from now or 2 years from now this doesn't happen again and these children are poisoned again, at the very least, for God's sake, at the very least, we ought to be able to help this community provide its families with water that they can drink. That is all I am asking for.

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Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

A recorded vote was ordered.

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