A top adviser to President Barack Obama says the federal government is doing what it can to assist the city of Flint and the state as all rally to deal with the water crisis there.
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“If I was a parent there, I would be beside myself”, Obama said.
“Resources are being sent to Flint as we speak”, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver told a conference in Washington on Wednesday. The corrosive water caused lead to leach from old pipes.
Governor Rick Snyder appointed a supervisor who switched Flint’s water supply from Lake Huron to the polluted Flint River.
Flint reconnected to Detroit’s water system in October 2015 after doctors at Hurley Medical Center alerted the community to risky lead levels.
The White House said that Obama reiterated to Weaver that his administration will continue to support state and local officials in their response.
According to the paper the only other sitting American Presidents to visit the Detroit Auto Show have been President Dwight Eisenhower and President Bill Clinton.
“I told her we are going to have her back and all the people of Flint’s back as they work their way through this awful tragedy”, he said. He also said the state and city can’t meet all the needs of Flint residents. She said that “if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would have been action”.
He submitted an appeal to Obama for his denial of a major disaster declaration saying Flint faces a long-term threat and that such an order could bring additional help.
A group of bipartisan lawmakers including Michigan Republican Fred Upton, of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote last week to EPA head Gina McCarthy, requesting a briefing about the Flint contamination. Obama said to reporters and photographers.
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“We will have all of Flint’s back”, Obama added. They’re racing to see who can talk down America the most.
