Obama won’t drink Flint’s water during visit
President Obama is visiting Flint, Mich., on Wednesday, but he doesn’t plan to sample the city’s drinking water.
“I’m not aware of any photo ops that involve the president’s consumption of the water,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters on Monday.
{mosads}Michigan politicians have faced public pressure to drink the Flint water to prove that cleanup efforts have been successful in removing lead from the water supply.
Gov. Rick Snyder (R) drinks Flint water on days that he is in the state.
Earnest stressed that the Environment Protection Agency has deemed that properly filtered water in Flint is safe to drink.
“I certainly would encourage people to listen to the advice that they get from our scientific and public health experts about what water is safe to drink and the president will certainly follow that advice,” he said.
Snyder and the White House have sometimes clashed over the response to the Flint water crisis. But on Monday the governor said he is open to meeting with Obama privately during his one-day visit.
Earnest said Snyder has been invited to greet Obama on the airport tarmac but wouldn’t commit to a presidential meeting with the governor, saying his schedule is still being put together.
The spokesman said he’s glad Snyder has time to meet with Obama, after initially saying he had a “full schedule” on Wednesday.
“I guess his schedule got a little freed up, huh,” Earnest said of the governor. “We’re obviously pleased that he will now be in Flint on that day.”
Sndyer told reporters Monday he would use the meeting to find ways for local, state and federal authorities to “work together.”
“How can we all work together to make Flint a stronger, better community and address the water issues as much as possible?”
— Updated at 2:31 p.m.
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