Elijah Cummings DESTROYS Michigan Governor Snyder At Flint Water Contamination Hearing

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• published: 17 Mar 2016
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Governor Rick Snyder appeared before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Thursday for a hearing on how his administration has handled the Flint water crisis, which resulted in the poisoning of an entire community of children with lead. Republicans have consistently tried to deflect blame away from Snyder, even expressing admiration for him, but in his powerful opening statement, ranking Democratic member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) left no doubt as to where the responsibility lies. Rep. Cummings began by observing that Gov. Snyder is often complimented for running his state like a business, then asked “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 Governor Snyder’s administration has done,” Cummings continued, “he would be hauled up on criminal charges.” Cummings was just getting warmed up, though, and for a solid six minutes, read Snyder administration emails demonstrating their negligence. Of the federal government’s involvement, Rep. Cummings said that “I agree that the EPA should have done more. They should have rushed in sooner to rescue the people of Michigan from Governor Snyder’s vindictive administration, and his utter incompetence at every level.” He concluded by saying “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 ha to be the last line of defense.” You can watch Rep. Cummings’ remarkable statement above, in full, from C-Span3.The ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee issued a blistering indictment of the Snyder administration on Thursday moments before the Michigan governor began his own testimony over the Flint water contamination crisis. Rep. Elijah Cummings suggested that Republicans were “desperately” trying to blame the crisis on the federal Environmental Protection Agency. “I agree that EPA should have done more, they should have rescued the people of Flint from Gov. Snyder’s vindictive administration and its utter incompetence at every level,” Cummings said. Cummings suggested that if Snyder had been the CEO of a children’s toy company that sold toys with lead “he would be hauled up on criminal charges.” “The board of directors would throw him out and shareholders would revolt,” Cummings said. Snyder, in his opening remarks, outlined steps the state is taking to address the man-made disaster and highlighted ongoing probes of the Michigan environmental quality and health departments. “We are taking responsibility and taking action in Michigan, and that is absolutely essential here in Washington, too. Inefficient, ineffective, and unaccountable bureaucrats at the EPA allowed this disaster to continue unnecessarily,” he said. Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, began the hearing by discussing failures at every level of government, including the city, state and federal government. He emphasized faults at the EPA ahead of testimony from Administrator Gina McCarthy.Chaffetz expressed sympathy for Flint residents were exposed to lead-contaminated water for more than a year and to this day rely on bottled water for daily consumption. “I can’t even imagine my family having to go through that in the United States of America,” Chaffetz said. The governor is likely to face hours of questions from lawmakers on the committee, which includes three Michigan representatives: Republican Tim Walberg of Tipton, Republican Justin Amash of Cascade Township and Democrat Brenda Lawrence of Southfield. Some 150 Flint residents and activists piled onto three buses Wednesday evening and made the overnight trip to Washington, D.C., where they lined the hallways of the Rayburn House Office building hoping for a seat in the hearing or an overflow room. “This is not just something that’s on TV, this is something that’s happening in real life,” said Aaron Dunigan, an assistant pastor in Flint. “We are real people.” Dunnigan said his 20-month old daughter, Ava Grace, has already been hospitalized three times for illnesses he believes are water related, including a respiratory virus he was told was a cousin to fatal Legionnaires’ disease. “She’s spent every Christmas of her life in the hospital because of the water,” he said. Flint resident Tammy Brewer said she has large sores on her body and has been losing her hair, problems she attributes to showering in the water. “I cannot fill the tub enough for me. I try to rinse off with warm bottled water and pray.