Monthly Archives: December 2015

“Governor Snyder’s apology over the Flint water crisis is appropriate, as are personnel changes announced today at the Department of Environmental Quality. Through this ongoing crisis, the people of Flint did nothing wrong – they are victims of this failure of government. The State of Michigan must not only acknowledge its role in this crisis, but also take responsibility and act right away to make it right.

Rep. Brenda Lawrence voted with the majority of her colleagues in the House to adopt, by a vote of 316 to 113, the FY 2016 Omnibus Appropriations bill.  This measure funds the government for FY 2016.

A bill expected to be passed by Congress this week includes a provision fought for by Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05) to transfer $2 billion more into the Hardest Hit Fund (HHF), a program that has already helped to remove and repurpose thousands of abandoned properties in cities across Michigan, including Flint and Saginaw. Additionally, these new funds would have greater flexibility and could be used to make additional progress on removing blight, including past 2016, when the funds currently expire

Places of worship, homeless shelters and food banks are among 410 Michigan nonprofit organizations that Consumers Energy has helped this year with over $700,000 in energy efficiency upgrades and rebates – the energy provider’s largest outreach yet to help community organizations to reduce their costs.

U.S. Representative Candice Miller (MI-10) and U.S. Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow (MI) wrote to Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Shaun Donovan urging the Administration to make the expansion of a customs plaza for the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron a high priority for funding in the Fiscal Year 2017 budget. Despite land being cleared and property demolished in Port Huron for the expansion, funding for the customs plaza construction has yet to be allocated.

Congressman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, today joined the majority of his House colleagues in advancing H.R. 8, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act by a bipartisan 249-174 vote. The innovative legislation, sponsored by Upton, focuses on updating the United States’ energy policy to properly reflect the changing energy landscape

S. 611 will amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to help alleviate the financial burden imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on small and rural drinking supply systems. It would reauthorize the EPA program that provides technical assistance to small public water systems and authorize the EPA to provide technical assistance programs to small public water systems through grants or cooperative agreements made to non-profit organizations.