Deal Reached to Help Flint; Stalemate Over Government Shutdown Ends: Report

Updated. WASHINGTON, DC — Congressional leaders have reached an accord to help Flint, Michigan, recover from its lead-contaminated water crisis and provide money to fight the Zika virus, ending a stalemate that could have shut down the federal government, according to media reports.

Senate Democrats threatened to shut down the federal government Tuesday if the chamber didn't approve $220 million in federal infrastructure aid to help Flint and blocked a vote on a short-term government funding bill.

In doing so, they argued an emergency assistance bill proposed for flood victims in Louisiana should also include assistance for Flint, and also said that it is unfair that Louisiana would get $500 million or floods that occurred last month when Flint has gone more than a year without federal assistance.

Aides to House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, and the chamber’s Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, of California, confirmed the accord early Wednesday, sources told the Associated Press. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal had not been made public.

Under the agreement, the short-term funding measure will be approved by the Senate. Without it, the government could have shut down at midnight Friday.

Under the agreement, Flint and other cities with water emergencies will receive $170 million under an amendment to the Water Resources Development Act of 2o16, which the House is expected to vote on Wednesday.

“We believe that the [spending bill] should include assistance for communities facing disasters across the country – and that Flint and communities like it should not be left behind,” eight Democrats, including Minority Leader Harry M. Reid of Nevada and Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters of Michigan, said in a Tuesday letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, The Washington Post reported.

The stopgap funding resolution is the only “must-pass” legislation remaining on the congressional calendar. “Let’s not pick and choose who we take action for,” said Peters, of Bloomfield Township.

McConnell said Tuesday that “Flint can’t really be the issue” that Democrats have with the funding resolution, The Detroit News reported

“This 10-week funding bill need not be, as some Democratic leaders seem to wish, some titanic struggle for the ages,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “It’s hard to believe Democrats would really be willing to hold up this common-sense package and its critical resources to address Zika, the heroin and prescription opioid epidemic and floods.”

McConnell said the Water Resources Development Act of 2o16, which passed the Senate earlier this month, is the proper mechanism for assistance for Flint. It still has to pass the House, which blocked a $220 million Flint aid package in an amendment proposed by U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, a Democrat from Flint.

“Republican leadership (previously) says this really belongs in another bill — talk about it in the continuing resolution. When we are debating the continuing resolution, they say, you know, this is really a water resources issue, it should be in WRDA,” Kildee told reporters. “They can’t have it both ways.”

Residents of Flint started complaining of discolored drinking water with particulate matter shortly after the the city began drawing water from the Flint River in 2014, rather than the cleaner Lake Huron, as a cost-saving move while under the control of an emergency manager. The corrosive water caused the lead pipes to leach into the city’s drinking water system.

As many as 12,000 children in Flint may have been exposed to lead by drinking the city’s tap water, for whom lead poisoning can be a life sentence of emotional and intellectual problems. Some homes in Flint had water with lead levels more than 850 times the level the EPA considers unsafe.

The stopgap spending bill would keep the government running through Dec. 9 and provide $1.1 billion in long-delayed funding to fight the spread of the Zika virus, which can cause grave defects.

Photo by kidTruant via Flickr Commons