President Barack Obama is set to meet with residents of Flint, Michigan, to hear how they’re managing after lead from old pipes tainted their drinking water.
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Lead began leaching into Flint’s water in 2014; the city advised residents in January 2015 that the water contained certain chemicals but was still safe to drink.
Snyder will participate in a briefing with Obama and federal officials on Flint’s water crisis after greeting the president on the tarmac of Flint Bishop International Airport, Snyder spokesman Ari Adler said Tuesday.
The president’s visit will bring Flint’s “catastrophic situation” back into the national spotlight, where it needs to be, Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said in an interview. Among the cost-saving measures: Change the city’s water supply and do it on the cheap.
“HHS has extended funding to expand capacity at Head Start centers and community health care centers in Flint”, Earnest said. Additionally, the water was not properly treated before being sent into the homes and offices within the city. I am one of the children that is effected by this water, and I’ve been doing my best to march in protest and to speak out for all the kids that live here in Flint.
“I think our government can’t find its ass with both hands, and a map and a GPS”, Cher told an audience on Tuesday.
An independent review panel appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, in October concluded a widespread lack of concern about poor and minority groups in Flint contributed to government officials’ sluggish reaction to residents’ complaints about toxic water that was causing illnesses.
In Michigan, Obama will be briefed by officials coordinating the response and meet for a neighborhood roundtable with families affected by the lead poisoning, which came to light past year.
Obama announced his trip in a letter to an 8-year-old Flint resident that the administration published on Medium, the publishing platform.
Snyder has sometimes been critical of the federal government for not providing more assistance and has appealed for a federal disaster declaration, which the USA government reserves for natural disasters, not man-made ones.
When asked about a series of health issues facing the country, more than a third (35%) identify contaminated drinking water as “extremely serious”, behind cancer (43%) and similar to heroin abuse (35%) and ahead of major diseases such as heart disease ( 27%) and diabetes (31%).
“My skin, it’s awful, her skin, my two younger ones with their skin”, she said.
But Earnest added that the White House is “pleased” that Snyder would be in Flint and noted “it’s traditional for the president, when he travels to a state, to invite the governor to at least greet him on the tarmac”.
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“I’m gonna give him a big hug and say what more can I do to help?” The governor has since reversed course and said he wants to meet with Obama.
