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Senate’s $100 Million for Flint Might Face Roadblocks in the House

Under the terms of the deal, Flint is the only community eligible for the $100 million in subsidized loans and grants—“about half of what we’re told needs to be done to replace the pipes and to get the faucets bringing out safe water,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said during a Wednesday press conference.

Two years after Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration switched Flint’s water source from Lake Huron to the corrosive Flint River, some 100,000 residents of the predominantly Black city are still being forced to drink, cook with, and bathe their children in bottled water. Linda Parton / Shutterstock.com

The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a measure designating $100 million to replace corroded lead pipes prolonging the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, but the fate of the deal is far from sealed.

The Senate’s sweeping package addresses Flint and other communities that face drinking water hazards, according to a summary obtained by Rewire. The bipartisan deal will provide $100 million through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-run federal-state partnership, as well as about $20 million in loan forgiveness for Flint.

Under the terms of the deal, Flint is the only community eligible for the $100 million in subsidized loans and grants—“about half of what we’re told needs to be done to replace the pipes and to get the faucets bringing out safe water,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said during a Wednesday press conference.

The aid passed 95-3 as part of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) (S. 2848), a bipartisan reauthorization of the nation’s water infrastructure projects. In April, Stabenow and Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), the lead Senate negotiators on Flint, were forced to drop a package amid objections from one GOP colleague. Inhofe is the chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction over WRDA in the chamber.

Stabenow and other key members of the Michigan congressional delegation—Sen. Gary Peters (D) and Rep. Dan Kildee (D), who represents Flint—celebrated the anticipated victory alongside Flint Mayor Karen Weaver (D) and community advocates at Wednesday’s press conference steps from the Senate. Afterward, however, they acknowledged an uncertain route through the Republican-dominated U.S. House of Representatives to final passage.

“We are looking for multiple paths,” Stabenow told reporters.

The version of WRDA pending in the U.S. House of Representatives does not include Flint funding. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Bill Shuster (R-PA), who oversees that version, separately told reporters Wednesday that WRDA could reach the floor for a vote in the next week or so. The committee will continue to talk to leadership about scheduling, a spokesperson said in an email.

A final WRDA bill would necessitate the work of a conference committee to reconcile other policy differences. The identical versions would again have to pass the House and Senate before reaching the president’s desk.

Stabenow said there’s “a lot of interest” around inserting the Flint language in the House WRDA bill. Still, the protracted process has the Michigan lawmakers eyeing other legislative vehicles in the House, including a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government running past the September 30 end of the fiscal year.

“Simultaneously, we can look at other options [for Flint funding],” Peters said. “Certainly, in the CR is a possibility. There are other things that we can do. Now that it has the momentum coming out of the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support, now there’s a number of vehicles that can be used to get it passed and signed into law by the president before he leaves office.”

Peters put the onus for the other half of the infrastructure funding on the state. Two years after Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) administration switched Flint’s water source from Lake Huron to the corrosive Flint River, some 100,000 residents of the predominantly Black city are still being forced to drink, cook with, and bathe their children in bottled water.

“The state of Michigan has to step up and do a whole lot more,” Peters said.

Lawmakers in Washington nevertheless hope to recreate the Senate’s bipartisanship on Flint in the House. Stabenow and Kildee indicated support from a potentially powerful ally: Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

“Fred’s offered to help in any way he can,” Kildee told Rewire in an interview. Others in the Michigan congressional delegation have been “generally supportive.”

That the package is fully offset helps the cause.

“It’s not the typical situation where the opposition is against spending and it’s unpaid for,” Kildee said. “We’ve got that covered. They should be able to sign on.”

The spirit of bipartisanship did not extend to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who visited Flint Wednesday.

“We all know why he’s doing it. Belated photo-ops are not enough,” Stabenow said. “We’re here solving the problem.”