A week after Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was not called to testify at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the Flint lead crisis, he is declining an invitation to a subsequent hearing scheduled for this week. The Hill reports that Snyder will skip the hearing to announce new state budget proposals pertaining to Flint:
Snyder spokeswoman Anna Heaton said Monday that the governor won’t attend on Wednesday because he’s due to present his annual budget proposal that day in Michigan.
The hearing is being called by the Democrats' partisan Steering Committee, which does not have subpoena power. It will be the second by lawmakers on Flint's lead contamination, and the second at which Snyder will not testify.
Rep. Dan Kildee (D), who represents and lives in Flint, called Snyder’s refusal “deeply disappointing.”
“His administration's policies led to this man-made crisis, and he needs to answer questions so that the whole truth can be found,” said Kildee, who House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appointed to the Steering Committee last week.
“Flint families deserve answers and immediate solutions from the state about what is being done to make things right for the people of Flint.”
This hearing, held by the Democrats Steering Committee, does not have subpoena power and will not be bipartisan, as was the previous hearing. That hearing sparked controversy after Republican leadership refused to even invite Snyder to testify. However, that hearing did feature testimony on behalf of the state from Keith Creagh, the head of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. That hearing featured intense debate and scrutiny on EPA and DEQ practice, but did not clarify the state’s role in the switch to the Flint River and the subsequent regulatory lapses that contributed to lead leeching into Flint’s drinking water.
This hearing, while it will likely feature more emotion and an in-depth discussion of environmental issues, will likely go no further in discerning the state’s culpability or Snyder’s role. There will be no testimony on behalf of any state agency.