Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., left, accompanied by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and others discusses proposed legislation to help Flint, Mich. with their current water crisis, during a news conference, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
 
The Senate cemented an agreement Wednesday to avoid an Oct. 1 government shutdown after House Republicans allowed a vote on federal aid to address the water crisis in Flint, Mich., removing a major obstacle in negotiations.

Senators voted 72-15 to pass a stopgap measure that will keep the government open until Dec. 9, giving appropriators time to pass 2017 spending bills. The measure also provides $1.1 billion in funds to address the Zika virus and $500 million in emergency flood relief.

Both the Zika and flood funding were subject to long and painstaking negotiations between majority Republicans and minority Democrats, but it was funding for Flint that threatened to push matters past the brink.

Democrats made clear earlier this week they would not support the spending bill unless Republicans moved to guarantee Flint aid, while GOP leaders countered the Senate had approved Flint aid earlier this month in a separate water projects bill.


The impasse was broken late Tuesday after House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) struck a deal allowing a vote to attach $170 million in Flint relief to the House version of the water bill. That bill is expected to pass late Wednesday; the stopgap spending measure is expected to pass shortly afterward.

Ryan, addressing the Economic Club of Washington Wednesday morning, said the amendment would “help unlock” the spending bill. “We should be able to move this through, I believe, before Friday,” he said.

By Wednesday morning, Senate Democrats were satisfied that, thanks to the House deal, Flint would be addressed once Congress returns after the Nov. 8 election.

“I am convinced that there is going to be help for Flint in the lame duck,” Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said on the Senate floor. “They’ve been waiting for help, they deserve help, and I am very happy it is going to come.”

Wednesday’s Senate votes capped weeks of frustration for Republicans, who complained that Democrats had engaged in bad-faith spending negotiations aimed at keeping vulnerable GOP incumbents in Washington rather than on the campaign trail.


“It’s almost as if a few Democratic leaders decided long ago that bringing our country to the brink would make for good election-year politics, and then they’ve just made up the rationale as they go along,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday.


McConnell (R-Ky.) unveiled a stopgap last week that addressed several Democratic demands, including a deal on funding for responding to the Zika virus and the elimination of several contentious policy riders. But it did not incorporate the $220 million Flint aid package that passed the Senate as part of the water bill.

Democrats have sought federal relief money for the Flint crisis since January, and they have been eager to get the funding passed into law. The issue has stirred resentments over the inequities in the treatment of a majority-black city, and it has stayed near the top of Democrats’ congressional agenda for months.

With Democrats demanding funding for Flint, the bill failed to advance Tuesday on a 55-to-45 vote. The procedural vote was retaken Wednesday, setting up a final passage vote later Wednesday. The House is expected to vote on the stopgap on Thursday, and Congress will then recess until after the Nov. 8 election.

While most Senate Democrats voted Wednesday to advance the spending bill, Michigan’s two Democratic senators voted against it, because Flint aid was not directly attached. But both senators, Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, praised the House deal for creating a more definitive path forward.

“Quite frankly, had we not all stuck together yesterday, we wouldn’t be here today talking about a House bill passing with language dealing with Flint,” Peters said.

Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), who co-authored the House amendment with Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), also said the agreement was “a step forward” to ensuring Flint gets aid — but that work would have to continue.

“The people of my hometown have waited over two years for their government to help them in their time of need,” he said in a statement. “We will continue to fight until Flint aid reaches the President’s desk.”


Democrats had preferred that the aid be attached to the stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, because it is a must-pass bill that is guaranteed to become law.

Even if the water-projects bill passes the House this week, the two chambers will have to resolve differences between the two bills in a process that might stretch into November or December. The deal struck Tuesday, however, should assure that the final product will include Flint aid.

The Flint crisis is now into its second year, with most households and businesses in the Michigan city still unable to use their lead-tainted tap water for drinking or cooking. A decision made by a state-appointed emergency manager to switch water sources led to the corrosion of water-supply pipes that now must be replaced at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The federal aid package would fund a portion of those costs while also helping Flint and other communities deal with the public-health implications of lead exposure.

The White House said Monday that “Congress should quickly pass targeted funding to support Flint, Michigan, whether in the Water Resources Development Act or another vehicle.”