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Today's Hillary News & Views begins with Ciinton’s blistering attack on Michigan’s governor over the water crisis in Flint, along with an apparent preview of her collaboration with mayors, which she has pledged will be central to her presidency.
Michigan Live reports:
During an appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke out on Flint's water crisis.
Maddow asked Clinton what she thought was wrong in Flint given the current water crisis. Clinton said she is pleased that FEMA is trying to help the city. She said she has spoken to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) and Congressman Dan Kildee (D-Flint Township) to see how they are going to get enough funding to get children tested.
"This is infuriating to me. I did a lot of work on trying to get rid of lead in residential housing in Upstate New York. I care deeply about this issue. We know it has effects on behavior and educational attainment." Clinton said on the show. "So when you test kids, we need to provide it quickly, whatever health care they can get, whatever kind of anecdote is possible. And we need to have a fund for education because some of these kids, if they've been too exposed, the damage may be irreversible. And we're going to have to do more to help them actually learn."
Clinton went on to say there is a federal role in helping Flint and she would make it a federal role. She said she is "outraged" that Gov. Rick Snyder hasn't asked for the federal help.
"Right now, as best I can understand, the governor, the Republican governor, Gov. Snyder, is refusing to ask for the triggering of the federal help that he needs in order to take care of the people who are his constituents. And I am just outraged by this." Clinton said. "I find it -- you know lead is one of the most pernicious, horrible toxins that kids are exposed to, and that has such serious long-lasting effects on their behavior and their learning. I would be doing everything I could, and I would be expecting everybody in a position of authority to do the same."
The Detroit News reports:
Hillary Clinton dispatched two top campaign aides to Flint on Wednesday to meet with Mayor Karen Weaver about the city’s water contamination crisis.
Clinton’s national political director, Amanda Renteria, and policy adviser Mike Schmidt met with the mayor at City Hall on Wednesday.
The campaign aides’ visit to Flint came after Clinton had issued two statements this week condemning Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration for its role in failing to require Flint to control corrosion that caused toxic lead to leach from aging pipelines into the city’s drinking water supply.
Clinton also penned an op-ed for Black Star News about the crisis:
There is no excuse for what’s happening in Flint. A city of 99,000 people—a majority of them African-American, 40 percent living in poverty—spent nearly two years drinking and bathing in water that we now know contained dangerous amounts of lead.
Officials told the public the water was safe--even after a GM plant stopped using it because it was too corrosive. If the water wasn't good enough for cars, it wasn't good enough for kids--period.
The people of Flint deserve to have safe drinking water restored as quickly as possible. Their children deserve to immediately get the health care they need. And they deserve to know what Governor Snyder knew and when he knew it.
While I’m glad that the Michigan state legislature passed a plan last October that will partially cover the cost of purchasing safe water until July, I'm calling on the state of Michigan to finance water purchases from Detroit until safe drinking water is fully restored in Flint.
FEMA should conduct an expedited review of the city’s water infrastructure for damage, and the federal government should step up to be a partner in making necessary repairs.
I also urge the Obama Administration to immediately set up a health monitoring and surveillance system to test Flint residents for lead poisoning. Children who have been exposed to lead need to be immediately treated and monitored. And if there are long-term health impacts, those children and their families should be compensated.
In America, no mother should have to worry that the water her children are drinking and bathing in isn’t safe. I believe environmental justice can’t just be a slogan—it has to be a goal.Flint has suffered ongoing water quality issues since the city adopted the state-appointed emergency manager’s plan to change the city’s drinking water source and the city began drawing water from the Flint River as an interim measure.Since early 2014, abnormally high levels of e. coli, a dangerous bacteria; trihalomethanes, which can make hot showers potentially toxic; lead, which causes long-term neurological problems; and copper have been found in the city’s water.
