WATCH: Congress Eviscerate MI Gov. Rick Snyder Over Flint Water Crisis

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WASHINGTON, DC – A Congressional panel drilled down on Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Thursday, calling on him to resign and accusing him of ignoring early warning signs of lead contamination in Flint’s public water supply that later ballooned into an explosive national scandal and public health crisis.

Members of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform also called for the resignation of EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, who also testified at the hearing.

Here are five memorable quotes and exchanges from the hearing:

1. "Poisoned the Children of Flint"

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the committee, made it clear in opening statements that blame would be put on Michigan’s Republican governor and his administration. He eloquently pounded on Snyder for a full six minutes, beginning with this:

“What if this was a business? What if a CEO ran a company that sold toys, laced with lead, that children put in their mouths? What if those children were poisoned as a result, and what if that CEO ignored warnings for more than a year as those kids got sicker and sicker and sicker?

“There’s no doubt in my mind that if a corporate CEO did what Gov. Snyder’s administration has done,he would be hauled up on criminal charges.”

He went on:

"Gov. Snyder's administration chose to switch to the Flint River for a source of water, not the EPA. Gov. Snyder's administration ignored warnings from the Flint water treatment plant supervisors not to go forward with the switch, not the EPA. … Gov. Snyder's administration caused this horrific disaster and poisoned the children of Flint."

He concluded:

“These children, when we are dead, when we are dead and gone, these children will suffer for what we failed to do, and so. Mr. Chairman, as I’ve said to you before, we have to be the last line of defense.”

2. "I Have Accepted Responsibility"

Snyder tried to set a tone of contrition to douse the firestorm of criticism that was about to erupt:

"We messed up in Michigan to begin with by doing two studies instead of corrosion controls. That fundamentally caused this problem. I have accepted responsibility because those people work for me. But it's something different to have this continuing dialogue, to say it was solely us. This could have been stopped sooner if other people had also spoken out."

3. “We Were Strong Armed”

Republicans on the committee tried to place blame on McCarthy, the Obama administration's head of the EPA, but she said Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality wouldn’t let her agency step in:

"They said, 'We'll do it.' Since that point in time, MDEQ slow-walked everything they needed to do. That precluded us from being able to jump in to the rescue. .. We were strong-armed. We were misled. We were kept at arm's length. We could not do our jobs effectively."

4. “A Little Bit Late for the Kids in Flint”

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Virginia, asked Snyder what took him so long to respond:

"We have no evidence of you traveling to Flint for seven months, Governor. Seven months. I'm glad you're sorry now. I'm glad you're taking action now. But it's a little bit late now for the kids in Flint."

5. “Medically Induced Coma”

The most eviscerating questioning came from Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-PA, an attorney who sounded as if he was in a courtroom cross examining a hostile witness:

“Gov.Snyder,” he began, “do you admit here today before this committee that you and your administration failed the people of Flint?”

Snyder managed only a partial sentence before Cartwright cut him off.

“I've made that clear in terms of my state of the state address where I said …”

Again, Snyder only managed a few words.

“Yes, and I took actions immediately based on the recommendations.”

On it went.

"Do you admit here today seeing headline after headline about health problems — hair loss, rashes, E.coli, bacteria, sewage, Legionnaires' disease — did you read any of those stories, Gov. Snyder?" Cartwright grilled.

"Congressman, I read a number of those stories. What I would tell you is those stories — we would follow up on them and continue to get reaffirmation from career bureaucrats that the water was safe. That was wrong."

Finally, Cartwright, who said Snyder was “dripping with guilt” but still collecting a paycheck and hiring lawyers at state expense, had enough.

"Plausible deniability only works when it's plausible," the Pennsylvania congressman said, "And I'm not buying that you didn't know any of this until October 2015. You were not in a medically induced coma for a year. And I've had about enough of your false contrition and your phony apologies."

You can watch the full hearing here.