Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan admitted to Congress that “I kick myself every day” over the toxic water crisis in Flint, but rebuffed repeated demands for his resignation during lacerating exchanges at an inquiry into the disaster.

One Democratic congressman told Snyder: “You sit there dripping with guilt. People who put dollars over the fundamental safety of the public do not deserve public office and you need to resign, governor.”



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But Snyder instead criticized his own officials and the US Environmental Protection Agency over the crisis, which occurred after the city’s water supply was switched to the Flint river in April 2014. Flint, under direct emergency management from Snyder’s administration, failed to treat the water, leading it to corrode pipes that leached lead into the drinking supply.

“This is a sad event, a tragedy that should never have happened,” Snyder told a packed House oversight committee hearing. “Not a day or night goes by that this tragedy doesn’t weigh on my mind. I kick myself every day. This has been the most humbling experience of my life.

“The people of Flint should be angry. The experts said over and over again; career bureaucrats, quote-unquote experts. I get so mad, I should’ve never believed them.”

Asked several times by members of the committee whether he will resign, Snyder said: “My commitment is to fix the problem.” His testimony provoked occasional outbursts from Flint residents, many wearing “Flint lives matter” T-shirts, who staged a protest before the Capitol Hill hearing.

Snyder was questioned over the lengthy delay in tackling the problem of lead contamination in Flint. In January 2015, Dayne Walling, the then mayor of Flint, wrote to Snyder pleading for him to fix the problem and in March 2015 to one of the governor’s advisers warning of a “significant uptick” in cases of legionnaires’ disease in Flint.

However, Snyder said he didn’t become aware of Flint’s problems until October 2015, subsequently declaring a state of emergency in January. Democratic members of the committee were scathing of the Republican governor’s assertion that he did all he could, only to be hampered by failures in the Michigan department of environmental quality (MDEQ).

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mari Copeny, eight, of Flint, Michigan, waits in line to enter the hearing room on Capitol Hill. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

“Plausible deniability only works if its plausible,” said Congressman Matt Cartwright. “You weren’t in a medically induced coma for a year. I’ve had enough of your false contrition and apologies.

“You sit there dripping with guilt. People who put dollars over the fundamental safety of the public do not deserve public office and you need to resign, governor.”

The switch to the Flint river was made in an attempt to save money in the debt-ridden city. The response to the crisis, which has involved handing out bottled water and providing water filters and blood tests, has been costly, however. Snyder told the committee that $232m has been set aside to help Flint.

“Let’s put aside resources, let’s get the lead pipes out of the ground,” Snyder said. “This is a national problem. I’ll be pushing for a better standard because the people of our state and country deserve better.”

This explanation cut little ice with some members of Congress. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the committee, claimed that Snyder’s “fingerprints are all over this”.

“An entire generation of children will suffer from brain damage and learning difficulties,” he said. “When we are dead and gone, these children will suffer for what has been done.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gina McCarthy, who testified alongside Governor Rick Snyder, faced Republican calls for her to resign as administrator of the EPA. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP

Gina McCarthy, administrator of the EPA, appeared alongside Snyder, in what is the third oversight committee hearing into the Flint crisis. Republican members of the committee called upon McCarthy to resign, alleging that the regulator did nothing to prevent the lead poisoning.

“Why do we even need an EPA?” said Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the committee. “If you want to do the courageous thing, you too should resign. You had the backing of the federal government and you did nothing. You too should stand down.”

McCarthy said she became aware of the issues in Flint in July 2015, after an EPA official wrote a memo warning of lead contamination. She said she regrets that the agency wasn’t “aggressive” enough in its pursuit of the poisoning but said the EPA was stymied by “intransigence” from the MDEQ.

“We were kept at arm’s length, we couldn’t do our jobs effectively,” she said. “I will take responsibility for not pushing hard enough but it was not the EPA that caused this.”