Funding measure to include $170M for Flint

A bill to fund the federal government through late April will include $170 million to help cities such as Flint, Mich., with drinking water contamination crises, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee said.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters about the Flint funding Tuesday morning, hours before leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations committees are due to release the bill publicly, with the intent of having both chambers pass it before Friday’s funding deadline.

{mosads}Democrats had since early in the year pressured Republicans to find some venue to give hundreds of millions of dollars to help Flint. The city of about 100,000 has lead-tainted water due to a state-directed switch in water sources and a lack of proper treatment.

Lawmakers tried to get the Flint aid attached to various measures, like an energy reform bill and another funding bill in September, with no success.

Flint residents still do not have drinkable water, more than a year after Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) acknowledged the lead crisis. Residents still have to use filters in order to drink their tap water.

The congressional appropriation, part of a so-called continuing resolution to fund the government at current levels until April 28, would complement a provision in a water resources bill released Monday that authorized $150 million for Flint.

Cole added that the funding measure will also include aid for Louisiana and other areas that received severe flooding this year, but he did not know how much.

“I know the funding is there in a way that has met the needs, as I understand it, of the people that represent the areas where the flooding occurred,” he said.

But the water resources bill that authorizes the funds could be at risk. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and some other Democrats object to provisions related to the California drought, which they say would harm wildlife.

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters that Democrats may have the 41 votes needed to block the water bill from moving forward.

“I haven’t whipped it, but there’s pretty strong sentiment opposed to it and I would say that probably we do,” he said.

A Senate Republican leadership aide said that without the authorization in the water bill, the funding bill’s $170 million could not be spent.

— Sylvan Lane, Melanie Zanona and Alex Bolton contributed to this story.