mr. kildee's bill, mr. moolenaar, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: jealt the gentleman is recognized for two minutes -- the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. moolenaar: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to join my michigan colleagues as a co-sponsor of this legislation and thank representative kildee and chairman upton for bringing this legislation forward. our hearts go out to the people of flint. who are enduring so much and persevering during this time. it's heartwarming to see the way people across the country have come together and supported the people of flint. the sad thing is that this situation could have been prevented. and should have been prevented. and the legislation we're discussing today here in the house of representatives is because of failures in local, state and federal government. the fact is that the officials at the e.p.a. knew last april, 10 months ago, that the flint utilities department was not using corrosion controls, putting water safety at risk. instead of alerting the public, the e.p.a.

mr. kildee: i thank you for that question. because that's really the core what have we're dealing with right now. we need a lot of help in flint. this could have been avoided. but now that this has occurred, there's some work we needed to to fix -- to do to fix the -- need to do to fix the pipes, there's something we need to do to make sure emergency needs are met. but the real need is this human need. lead exposure, lead is a neuro toxin. it affects development of the brain. the people, citizenses who are most at risk are those children who are still in those early developmental stages. particularly children age 6 and under. literally children feeding, drinking formula made with this water, will have the trajectory of their lives potentially affected. the thing that i think is important to keep in mind, first of all, flint is a tough town. we can live through this. we can get through this. we can succeed. but we're going to need resources. we need resources really to come from the people who did this to us. which is the state

mr. kildee's bill, mr. moolenaar, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: jealt the gentleman is recognized for two minutes -- the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. moolenaar: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to join my michigan colleagues as a co-sponsor of this legislation and thank representative kildee and chairman upton for bringing this legislation forward. our hearts go out to the people of flint. who are enduring so much and persevering during this time. it's heartwarming to see the way people across the country have come together and supported the people of flint. the sad thing is that this situation could have been prevented. and should have been prevented. and the legislation we're discussing today here in the house of representatives is because of failures in local, state and federal government. the fact is that the officials at the e.p.a. knew last april, 10 months ago, that the flint utilities department was not using corrosion controls, putting water safety at risk. instead of alerting the public, the e.p.a.

mr. kildee,. and i want to thank frank pallone, mr. shimkus, mr. tonko, for their collaboration and sport. i want to thank mccarthy. two mccarthys. kevin mccarthy, scheduling this at almost a moments notice, and the lead counsel on this legislation, dave mccarthy, who helped write and improve the bill as it was originally introduced. what is said on this floor today will not do anything to ease the mind of a parent in flint. the entire situation breaks your heart but it has a responsibility working together as republicans and democrats to fix the problem. this bill is an important step. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york is ecognized. mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise in support of the safe drinking water act improved compliance awareness, introduced last week by our colleague, representative kildee, with the support of other members of the michigan delegation. this bill would strengthen requirements to have the e.p.a. noti

mr. kildee and i really appreciate you and miss lawrence for all of your efforts, for requesting this hearing and making it happen. mr. chairman, i want to yield three minutes to my distinguished colleague, ms. lawrence from michigan for part of her opening. >> thank you, mr. chair and to the ranking member cummings. i want to personally thank you for holding this hearing. in my letter to the chairman on january the 12th of this year i asked that this hearing examine the action of key decision-makers involved in the development of this drinking water contamination crisis. i never thought this could happen in america in this day and age and our great country and our great home of michigan where we're surrounded by fresh water and the great lakes. every american has the right to three basic needs from their government, clean air to breathe, safe food to eat and air that they can breathe that will not harm their bodies. we in government have failed them. and providing these basic needs we've also failed their trust. i'm pleased as ms. waters is here because she puts a face on this tragedy. she,

mr. kildee: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to give some thanks to some of my fellow members of congress for coming to my hometown of flint, michigan, yesterday. specifically i want to thank our democratic whip, steny hoyer. congressman elijah cummings, congresswoman brenda lawrence, congresswoman debbie dingle. my friend and classmate, congressman scott peters, who spent the day with me yesterday in flint. i just want to thank them for having the back of the people of my hometown who are suffering right now with the water crisis that makes their water, the water for 100,000 people, not just undrinkable, but very dangerous. i also want to thank my michigan colleagues, congressman sandy levin, congressman john conyers for their many visits to flint. the people in flint are victims of a form of negligent that's almost unimaginable. negligent by their own -- neglect by their own government, state of michigan, who was operating the state of flint and failed to protect those citizens by ensuring clean and safe drinking

mr. kildee's effort to help his effort, 770 million, we must hold ourselves accountable, this body of republicans and democrats who know we must invest in the infrastructure. i sent a letter early in january for an investigation, the f.b.i. is now investigating, we want to make sure there is a reviewing of whether there is mall feesance. there are many questions and there must be many answers. i want to make sure there is an accountable standard and say to the american people, we can't have a flint where decisions are made -- general mortse start stopped using the water. and this is happening across america partly because cities are broke and because we have not invested in the overall structure of america as mr. garamendi has said over and over again. i thank my colleagues knowing how painful how it is to represent that area and congresswoman lawrence who is working together, congressmen dingell and conyers, count me as a collaborator as we stand before the american people and say send me. we are prepared to fight for more infrastructure to help cities across america. mr. garamendi: i thank the

mr. kildee: thank you, mr. speaker. the families and the children exposed to high levels of lead in my hometown of flint deserve action by the people who did this to them. the state of michigan, governor snyder's administration, created this public health emergency through their own inaction and by decision that is their appointed manager, their emergency manager, made in the city of flint, which has led to this kycies. -- crisis. we need to act in mearn equal to the graphity of this terrible situation. the -- gravity of this terrible situation. the president has already declared a state of emergency. congress can act, too. i have legislation i introduced last week that is a comprehensive set of solutions that not only deals with the need to replace those lead service lines that are leeching lead into the water system in households, but also provides the kind of support for children and families to get through this crisis and give them as individuals and my community as a community a chance on a future. resources are ne

mr. kildee, i will be right there with you. my objective is to never again in america -- we can fix this, but we have to have those who made the decision, forward and give --decision come forward and get answers. i yield back the remainder of my time. >> mr. chairman, we are the last line of defense. i do thank you for: this hearing, because -- calling this hearing, because there are some german that wouldn't have called it. i mean that, you wouldn't have called it. but you did. finally i want to say a special thank you to the many residents of flint, michigan who traveled all the way here to washington, d.c. to attend today's hearing. to you, we thank you. reverend sharpton, i thank you for being here. i welcome you all and thank you so much. i believe that we have a moral obligation to to conduct a comprehensive investigation of this crisis. let us be abundantly clear, it is a crisis. we need to determine how children in the united states of america, in the year of 2016 have been exposed to drinking water, poisoned with lead.

mr. kildee on the floor last thursday, and i asked him, talk to me. about that young child that you saw in your community that you represent. he said, the kid turned to him nd said, i'm not going to be smart enough. we make choices. mr. tonko: and think in the re-- think of the reduction of the quality of life there. we commend representative kildee and all the members of the michigan delegation for the work they have done. again, to the price tag, the cost. let's look at the other side. earlier i talked about seven billion gallons of water lost with these main breaks. with these breaks of any kind. seven billion gallons. mr. garamendi: can we talk about the california drought in this context? mr. tonko: exactly, you can ill afford any waste of water. but it's not just water coming through those pipes. it's tax dollars flowing through with the water. it's treated water. it's foolish for us to continue along this path of hidden infrastructure mentality. because when it's not addressed, water and tax dollars, hard-earned constituent money, flowing out o

mr. kildee for his passion on this. he's been working on this for some time and glad he was able to testify today. this committee stands adjourned. >> just quickly, i wondered what you thought of the open hearing this morning? >> well, i thought we addressed really some of the most critical issues. and it's very clear that the wrath of the entire country has been raised because there's something in this that strikes a chord deep in all of us. it's very offensive. >> we've got two subpoenas that are already in motion. there will be people brought in for transcribed interviews. the epa owes us documents that should be here by the end of the week and we'll continue from there. so it's still fluid so to speak. but we're going to press on. >> do you still really want the u.s. marshals to go scoop up emergency manager darnell early? >> we issued the subpoena, if they will not accept it the marshals will escort him. we tried to do it the polite way with his attorney, his attorney is refusing to accept service. so we have u.s.

kildee, huffman and labrador, have been tireless, tireless advocates for the release of their constituents. and i am so pleased that each of them has returned to the united states for their families, mr. speaker, the nightmare is over. unfortunately the nightmare continues for my constituents, the levinson family. . bob is now the longest held hostage in american history. he missed nine birth-days with his children, anniversaries, wedding, births of three of his four grandchildren and so many other happy occasions that should had been celebrated together as a family. this is a family who for nine years has never given up of bringing home their husband, their father and bringing him home. we were so fortunate to be joined by bob's wife, christine, and his eldest son, dan, when we passed this resolution in committee some weeks ago. we had the opportunity to tell them directly that this congress will not forget about bob. and by passing this resolution today, this house of representatives will now tell the world that we will never forget about bob. bob levinson dedicated his life to serving this country, first as d.e.a. and over 20 years as an f.b.i. agent. bob is the patriot who loves