Republicans successfully make Mississippi a "shithole state".
“We will do everything in our power to restore water pressure and get water flowing back to the people of Jackson,” the state’s Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Tuesday.
But the state did not help earlier. The city asked for $47 million to get ahead of the crisis with water and sewer repairs after the 2021 storm. The state’s legislature gave Jackson only $3 million, according to a report from CNN in April.
Help for crumbling infrastructure. The need to address the problem of crumbling infrastructure is something that has bipartisan agreement. Republicans and Democrats in Washington came together to pass the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law last November.
Of Mississippi’s four US House members, only one, Rep. Bennie Thompson, voted to spend money on things like water resources. In the Senate, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi was among the Republicans who helped the bill defeat a filibuster to become law. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith opposed the spending. See how your senators voted for the infrastructure package.
It’s probably not enough money. The infrastructure law dedicates $283 million for water infrastructure, according to Wicker, but as of July, a White House information sheet lists $75 million in this type of funding for the entire state for fiscal year 2022, most of which is focused on lead pipe replacement.
Jackson’s mayor has said his city “literally” needs $1 billion for its entire water system to be replaced.
A disagreement on funding. A separate bill, the American Rescue Plan, passed by only Democrats during the pandemic, also created funding for water programs. Mississippi is making these funds available through a grant program in which it will split costs with cities like Jackson, according to the nonprofit Mississippi Today.
Lumumba and Reeves have previously disagreed on exactly how much money Jackson got from the American Rescue Plan: In early August, Reeves accused Lumumba and the city of squandering $90 million in Covid-19 relief funds. Lumumba said the city got only around $44 million and that the money went to the water system and public safety, according to a WJTV report from before the floods but during the boil-water notice.
Splitting costs. Reeves also made clear in his disaster declaration statement that he would be splitting costs for the emergency actions with the city.
Problems for a decade. The EPA has cited Jackson multiple times over the past decade, including most recently in July 2021 demanding plans to fix the water system.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/30/politics/jackson-mississippi-water-system-what-matters/index.html
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