Jeb Bush on Michigan Gov. Rick Synder: 'He's Taken Responsibility, and I Admire That'
Despite receiving criticism from almost every direction, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder got some praise from Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush.
After proof emerged that showed Snyder, a Republican, ignoring and dismissing the water problem currently plaguing the city of Flint a year ago, Bush still thinks that the governor should not resign and in fact, admired how he's handling the situation.
According to Bush, "I admire Rick Snyder for stepping up right now," he also said that, "He's going through the challenge. And he's fired people and accepted responsibility to fix this. This is going to be a long-term challenge."
It should be noted that even before the crisis unfolded, many children from Flint have already began showing signs of irreparable lead poisoning. For months now, the city's residents have been drinking and using lead-contaminated water that came from Flint River, which the government told them was safe to use.
According to a report by Washington Times, the thousands of children exposed to the water will likely experience developmental and behavioral issues because they "drank, brushed their teeth and showered" with contaminated water.
Unfortunately, the affected children will now need millions of dollars' worth of care for the rest of their lives.
The clamor for Snyder's impeachment has become louder, with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders also calling out his resignation. The crisis happened when the government decided to change Flint City's water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River for cost-cutting reasons.
As for Bush, he said that he had criticized the Michigan governor regarding the issue, but is now praising him for "stepping up" and taking responsibility. Snyder personally apologized for the incident and said that he has made a more "focused effort" to remedy the problem.
Bush added that he liked Snyder's actions where, instead of putting up a horrible excuse and blaming someone else for the incident, he took full responsibility and thinks that's what a leader should do.
Unfortunately, taking responsibility alone is not going to cure the affected people of this horrible tragedy. As reported by The Guardian, Snyder was repeatedly informed of the water quality issues of the city as early as Feb. 2015, but his administration allegedly dismissed these concerns.
According to the emails released, Snyder's administration said that the water problems would eventually "fade in the rear view" and failed to dismiss the pleas of then Flint Mayor Dayne Walling.
The Obama administration, on the other hand, approved the governor's request to declare a federal emergency and provided an additional $5 million in financial assistance.
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