Support Funding for Flint in the Continuing Resolution and WRDA: Vote for Cloture on WRDA
Recipient: U.S. Senate
View the PDF of this letter here.
Dear Senator:
On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States, we write to urge you to vote the passage of the Continuing Resolution (CR) that includes relief for Flint, Michigan and the Water Resources Management Act (WRDA). The people of Flint, Michigan have been waiting for more than a year for emergency assistance. They require immediate aid, and further delays are unacceptable as a matter of basic decency and fairness.
We are deeply concerned that tens of thousands of people in Michigan have been harmed by this crisis, and they continue to struggle to provide clean drinking water for their families. So far, 10,000 children of Flint will suffer from lead poisoning because of this disaster. These children deserve environmental justice, and they deserve clean drinking water. It is absolutely astonishing that in the greatest nation in the world, one with so many resources, the people of Flint continue to lack the most essential of needs—clean drinking water.
The Continuing Resolution includes $170 million for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) [Sec. 196(a)]. If WRDA is not enacted, the $170 million appropriation goes into the general SRF fund and distributed by formula to all states. This would result in Flint only being eligible for roughly $2 million-$3 million. Enactment of WRDA ensures the $170 million in the CR will go to Flint, which can be provided as grants rather than loans.
We urge you to vote for cloture on WRDA and the CR. If you have any questions, please contact Nancy Zirkin, Executive Vice President, at (202) 263-2880 or Emily Chatterjee, Senior Counsel, at (202) 466-3648.
Sincerely,
Wade Henderson
President & CEO
Nancy Zirkin
Executive Vice President