Funding for Flint, Michigan

Floor Speech

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Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I thank Senator Stabenow for yielding me her remaining time. I couldn't concur more with what she had to say.

This is another day. It seems like we are down here on the floor all of the time talking about the crisis in Flint, asking for help, and demanding that folks step up to help the people of Flint. We are so close to doing it.

As the Senator mentioned, we came with incredible bipartisan support, 95 votes--a program fully paid for that the Senator authored, a program that I fought for as a Member of the U.S. House. Now we are saying this is so important that we are willing to take this program, use these funds to help the people of Flint. But the people can't wait any longer. In this body, the Senate should not be about picking and choosing specific States to help, specific cities to help, specific neighborhoods. It should be about all of America: No matter who you are, no matter where you live, when you are hurting, we will step up as the American people and help those folks in need. That is all we are asking.

A program that is fully paid for and has strong bipartisan support-- this seems to be a very easy thing to do, which is why I am at a loss to understand why it can't be put in a CR when it had such broad support and when it is clear people have been waiting for months. We had families in Washington last week, a woman, a mom, talking about her daughter whose teeth are crumbling when she bites into sandwiches because of the damage related to lead poisoning. She has blood levels going up and down with lead; it is still not under control. She was in tears. She was at a loss. She felt some hope when the WRDA bill passed. But if we don't take action and we leave to go back to our States for the month of October, who knows when we were going to bring this up. This is wrong.

The people of Flint have waited long enough. The people of Flint have suffered enough. This is our opportunity as the Senate to rise up and to say: Every American's life is important. Every American's life is one that we celebrate. Every child should have opportunities.

We can put this in the CR. We can pass it and send a strong signal to the people of Flint that their lives matter.

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