Bernie Sanders plans to visit Flint soon
Sen. Bernie Sanders is planning to soon visit Flint, Michigan, a city still reeling from a water crisis that has left residents with health problems associated with lead exposure.
Sanders' spokesman confirmed the upcoming visit to CBS News, but did not specify when the trip might take place. It was first reported by The New York Times.
The Vermont independent held two campaign rallies in Michigan on Monday, but did not visit Flint. Instead, he met with seven or eight residents of Flint who have been affected by the water crisis.
"I just met with seven or eight residents of Flint, Mich. I obviously have read the newspapers, and have been somewhat involved in the issue, but I really did not know how ugly, how horrible and how terrible what is going on there is. It is beyond my comprehension that in the year 2016, in the United States of America, we are poisoning our children," Sanders said to a crowd at Eastern Michigan University on Monday, according to the Times.
According to the report, a person in the crowd shouted "Go to Flint."
Sanders' rival, Hillary Clinton, visited Flint several weeks ago and has often brought up the water crisis in the presidential race, saying that "what happened in Flint is immoral."
The crisis dates all the way back to 2014 when a state-appointed emergency manager decided to switch Flint's water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River to save money. But the water from that river was corrosive and caused lead to seep into old pipes, which has left many Flint residents with long-term health effects associated with lead exposure and might have caused deadly cases of Legionnaires' disease.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder last week agreed to come to Capitol Hill at some point in the near future to testify before Congress on the water crisis.
