WASHINGTON, D.C. – As both Chambers of Congress debate the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, with the House Oversight Committee’s hearing Wednesday morning and the Senate’s consideration of an amendment to the energy package, LCV’s Legislative Representative Madeleine Foote issued the following statement:

“Safe drinking water is a basic human right and there’s no question that Flint needs help.  There is no way to adequately to make up for the permanent damage already done to the people of Flint, especially the egregious harm to those most vulnerable – infants, children, pregnant women, and marginalized communities. But as this crisis continues, at the very least our government must offer all members of this community support and relief to start addressing this tragedy. We applaud Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters and Congressman Dan Kildee for their leadership and swift action to stop the poisoning of this community.

“The effort in the Senate led by Senators Stabenow and Peters is an important step needed to ease Flint’s burden while providing the resources to start addressing the root causes of this problem. While we have concerns about the underlying legislative vehicle, the Energy Policy Modernization Act, it is vitally important that Congress take steps to help this community, and communities facing similar tragedies across the nation.

“In the House, we appreciate the Members who took the opportunity in the House Oversight Committee hearing to begin holding state officials accountable for the series of outrageous errors that led to this catastrophe. In the future, we hope that the committee will set aside any partisan differences in order to seriously scrutinize the disastrous decisions made by Governor Snyder and his administration that have left 100,000 people without clean, safe drinking water and subjected an entire generation to suffer from the effects of lead poisoning. The people of Flint and families across the country should not have to worry whether the water coming out of their tap will harm their children, and they are looking to Congress to deliver real accountability and solutions that stop these crises from happening in the future.”

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