Michigan's Lament: As Utah Senator Holds Up Aid Package, Flint Suffers
Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's been two years since problems began with the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, and nearly six months since officials declared a public health emergency there.
Yet a bipartisan congressional effort to aid the predominantly African-American city north of Detroit is idling in the Senate - stalled by the objections of a Republican senator from Utah.
"This is not an abstraction. This is 100,000 kids and adults all suffering every single day and it's pretty frustrating," said Rep. Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat who represents Flint.
"We will not give up, that's for sure," Kildee said in interview, vowing that congressional Republicans "are not going to run out the clock on Flint, Michigan."
MORE...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/midwest/ct-congress-flint-water-crisis-20160325-story.html
Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/midwest/ct-congress-flint-water-crisis-20160325-story.html
AxionExcel
(755 posts)seamonkey58
(19 posts)Flint is majority black. All of the cities being taken over by Rick Snyder's emergency managers are majority black. If the water poisoning had happened to a white town or city, the problem would have been solved in about three minutes.
Else You Are Mad
(3,040 posts)I just don't get how anyone could do what he is doing. These are the lives of human beings, these are children that are suffering and will not be able to live the life they should due to lead poisoning.
He is trading lives for sound bites and the ability to show his state he is a good republican fighting wasteful spending.
atreides1
(16,087 posts)Or maybe he doesn't think that American Blacks deserve the same rights and privileges as White Mormons!
I don't call it the Moron Church without reason!!!
The CCC
(463 posts)Force that worthless Lee and his family to drink Flint water.
King_Klonopin
(1,306 posts)I bet he did. Another blue state with a lot of folks who are non-white.
Republican Senators have made a disgrace out of civil, parliamentary procedure.
Gman
(24,780 posts)Says a lot.
Reter
(2,188 posts)But point taken.
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)the SOB would demanding federal aid without delay. You gotta wonder what kind of people send someone like that to represent them in Washington. Are they like him? If so, how many of them are out there?
atreides1
(16,087 posts)...send someone like him to represent them, people that feel the same way he does! I haven't heard a single damn word from the Mormon Church or the Mormon population of Utah, telling him to quit blocking this aid package, has anyone heard anything from those good God fearing folk in Utah?
Umbral18
(105 posts)They'll toss around a lot of platitudes that make it sound like its a philosophical position, in reality they're just mean spirited. It's the same with the Medicaid expansion, the Mormon/Republican controlled congress would turn down millions in federal money because the people that would benefit are very likely outside the preview of the Church (LDS) Welfare system. To put it more succinctly, "You're not one of us, fuck off and die!"
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)I said it before, and I will say it again. Democracy does not work.
NutmegYankee
(16,201 posts)Autocracy?
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)NutmegYankee
(16,201 posts)Technically the two are interchangeable as terms.
Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)That solved that problem?
Well, geez, I guess not, after all.
notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)Not so much, huh?
fbc
(1,668 posts)Maybe the city should just be evacuated? Why invest in a city that is dying anyway?
Or maybe Michigan should pay it? They elected the republican governor. This wasn't an act of nature.
Socal31
(2,484 posts)greymouse
(872 posts)So I read one of the articles and it says the objection is Michigan has a fat surplus and could pay for this itself. Is that true? Especially since it caused this problem, that would seem fair.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)ViseGrip
(3,133 posts)on FLINT!
Nor, give it back to the tax payers after they balanced their budget? States have to. I can see rainy day funds...and it's raining. What on Earth is the money for? A corporate welfare stadium? Something fancy that will line their pockets?
No pols like to fix pipes cuz they're underground where no one sees them, no one sees your name. Shameful. Why wait for the crazy feds when you have your own extra money, Michigan?
Republicans with surpluses....so funny.