Date: 2016-02-09
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you very much. And I thank the gentleman from New York for his kindness in my brief support of all of you on the floor. Let me first of all acknowledge. as I indicated. your potent and powerful question to America of $348 billion to solve our problem and are our children that valuable or are our children worth it. My answer is yes. Let me add my appreciation. though I know that he would not want to be in this predicament. to Congressman KILDEE and the entire Michigan delegation who were there on Saturday. They stood arm in arm listening to Flint residents just to see how painful it is to hear a mother talk about a child with spots all over his body and to have her point to other children and say. "They are getting sick. and I have lost my hair" or a teacher say. "I have children coming to school with pus sores." So. let me say a few points. I sit on the Judiciary Committee. And also have the privilege of sitting on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee as a guest. I just want to say that we need to hold someone accountable. which will then generate into what the solution is. April 2014. a nonscientistI just came out of the Rules Committee on science legislationmade a decision to go to Flint River. He had no anticorrosion plan. Really. there lies the source of problems throughout a number of these cities that you have indicated. You had one with nontoxins. They were just breaking the law and suffering because of lack of money. Saving $5 million has resulted in spending multiple millions of dollarsmaybe $1 billionplusto try and salvage this great city. With Governor Snyder. of course. there is no accountability. Just to show you an example. it is very difficult to read these emails that were released. The Governor indicates that this was not relevant to the issue. The main point is that while we are talking about the infrastructureand I do support Mr. KILDEEs effort as well as our colleagues in the Senate to help this city of 765 million. we must also hold ourselves accountablethis body of Republicans and Democrats who know that we must invest in infrastructure. As a member of the Judiciary Committee. I sent a letter early in January asking for an investigation by the Department of Justice. The FBI is now investigating. We want to make sure there is a review of whether there is malfeasance. So. I come to the floor today to say there are many questions and there must be many answers. I want to make sure there is an accountable standard. I want to say to the American people that we cant have a city like Flint. where decisions are madeGeneral Motors. by the way. stopped using the waterthat we have no anticorrosion plan. This is happening across America. partly. because cities are broke and because we have not invested in the overall infrastructure of America. as you. Mr. GARAMENDI have said on the floor over and over again. So. I wanted to come to the floor to thank my colleagues. Knowing how painful it is to represent that area. I thank Congressman KILDEE for his leadership. Congresswoman LAWRENCE. who is a neighbor. is working with him. Congressman CONYERS. Congresswoman DINGELL. SANDY LEVIN. and some Senators have all been working so hard on this issue. Count me in as a collaborator as we stand before the American people and say: Send me. We are prepared to fight for more infrastructure to help cities across America.