Breaking News
Obama Is Playing Politics While People Die In Flint Michigan
- President Barack Obama has refused federal disaster declaration and all the money that comes with it for Flint, Michigan.
- Gov. Snyder has challenged the president calling it a “narrow reading” in a letter of appeal.
- Gov. Snyder will also release his emails concerning Flint
- In his state of the state speech, Snyder apologized to the people of Flint and committed more money into fighting the city's water problems.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder asked President Barack Obama on Wednesday to reconsider his denial of a federal disaster declaration to address the drinking water crisis in , saying its severity poses an “imminent and long-term threat” to residents.
Obama declared an emergency — qualifying the city for $5 million — but determined it is not a disaster based on the legal requirement that such additional relief is intended for natural events, fires, floods or explosions.
In his appeal letter, Snyder called it a “narrow reading” and likened the crisis to a flood, “given that qualities within the water, over a long term, flood and damaged the city's infrastructure in ways that were not immediately or easily detectable. This disaster is a natural catastrophe in the sense that lead contamination into water is a natural process.”
He said the state and city cannot meet all the needs of residents. He again painted a bleak picture of the city and said the “economic injury” from the crisis is significant. Snyder said the disaster will lead to years, potentially decades of health problems and economic losses as well as infrastructure repairs that “neither the city, county or state have the capacity to conduct.”
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The second-term Republican, who devoted his annual State of the State speech Tuesday night to the emergency in , planned Wednesday to release his own emails regarding ‘s water, which became contaminated with too much lead when the city switched its water source in 2014 as a cost-cutting measure while under state financial management.
“I'm sorry most of all that I let you down,” Snyder, whose administration is engulfed in criticism, said in address, as hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside the Capitol. “You deserve better. You deserve accountability. You deserve to know that the buck stops here with me. Most of all, you deserve to know the truth, and I have a responsibility to tell the truth.”
The lead— which can lead to behavior problems and learning disabilities in children and kidney ailments in adults — has left residents unable to drink unfiltered tap water. The National Guard, state employees, local authorities and volunteers have been distributing lead tests, filters and bottled water. Snyder aides pledged that by the end of the week officials would visit every household in to ensure they have water filters.
Democrats said Snyder only recently admitted the magnitude of the fiasco, at least three months too late.
“This is the kind of disaster, the kind of failure to deliver basic services that hurts people's trust in government,” House Minority Leader Tim Greimel said.
Mayor Karen Weaver refused to call for Snyder's resignation while at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C., saying investigations should go forward. She said she wants Snyder to give “the services and the money, the funds that we need to address the population.”
“People have said how they want things handled with him,” Weaver said Wednesday. “I'm staying focused on what I need to get from him right now.”
In his speech, Snyder committed $28 million more in the short term to pay for more filters, bottled water, school nurses, intervention specialists, testing and monitoring — on top of $10.6 million allocated in the fall. The money also would replace plumbing fixtures in schools with lead problems and could help with unpaid water bills.
The new round of funding, which requires approval from the GOP-led Legislature, is intended as another short-range step while Snyder works to get a better handle on the long-range costs. A House committee on Wednesday swiftly approved the spending bill, which could reach his desk next week after more legislative voting. He plans to make a bigger request in his February budget proposal.
Snyder also announced the deployment of roughly 130 more National Guard members to the city.
By DAVID EGGERT, Associated Press
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that is what he does…lie, lie
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That’s all our fraud in the WH knows how to do !! My question is why are the people in Flint waiting for this SOB to make any kind of decision ???? He has proven time and time again — he does NOT care one iota about the American citizens.
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The wrighting is on the wall!
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nothing being done to stop what will happen in the future. Look now think in another 20 years.
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