WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers yesterday called for the resignations of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy on the grounds that they failed to quickly intervene in the city of Flint’s contaminated drinking water crisis.
Snyder, a Republican, and McCarthy, a presidential appointee, sat side by side before the House Oversight Committee as lawmakers from both parties grilled them on their response to the crisis, which has turned into a full-blown health emergency. It also has led to several lawsuits in state and federal courts, and federal and state investigations.
Republicans on the committee pinned much of the blame on the EPA, which many party members want to eliminate because they feel it is too powerful. Democrats pointed fingers at Snyder and Michigan officials, suggesting that cost cutting came at the expense of public health.
Several Republicans called on McCarthy to resign, but the White House said it had full confidence in her.
The committee’s top Democrat, Maryland’s Elijah Cummings, and other Democrats said Snyder’s administration was to blame for its mishandling of the crisis and called on the governor to resign.
Members of the committee chastised McCarthy and Snyder. “You don’t get it, You still don’t get it. You just don’t get it,” Committee chair Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, told McCarthy as he criticized her failure to accept blame for the crisis.
