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MICHIGAN ANDREWHARNIK—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Former State EPA administrator Susan Hedman appears to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. By Richard Lardner and Matthew Daly The Associated Press WASHINGTON Formercity and federal officials pointed fingers at one another for failing to protect the 100,000 citizens of Flint, Michigan, from lead-laced water at a congressional hearing Tuesday as Repub- licans targeted for blame an Environmental Protec- tion Agency executive who resigned as the crisis wors- ened. Amid withering crit- icism, Susan Hedman sought to defend the EPA's actions to deal with the contamination in the pre- dominantly African-Amer- ican city. "I don't think any- one at EPA did anything wrong, but I do believe we could have done more," said Hedman, the former direc- tor of the EPA's Midwest re- gional office. Hedman stepped down Feb. 1 over what she called "false allegations" that por- trayed her as sitting on the sidelines during the crisis and that she "downplayed concerns raised by an EPA scientist about lead in the water." The scientist Hed- man was referring to is Miguel Del Toral, a reg- ulations manager in the groundwater and drinking water branch of the Mid- west office. Hedman denied the EPA had disciplined Del Toral, who had warned of danger- ously high levels of lead in a June 2015 memo and later criticized the agency for not taking swift action. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R- Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Gov- ernment Reform Commit- tee, said Hedman "dis- missed" Del Toral's warn- ings. "You screwed up and you ruined people's lives," Chaf- fetz told Hedman. Flint switched its water source from Detroit's water system to the Flint River in 2014 to save money, but the river water was not treated properly and lead from ag- ing pipes leached into Flint homes and businesses. El- evated levels of lead have been found in children's blood. Lead contamination has been linked to learning disabilities and other prob- lems. The chain of events has spurred calls for Repub- lican Gov. Rick Snyder to resign amid outrage over the treatment of the peo- ple of Flint. A longshot re- call effort is under way in Michigan for Snyder, who has been widely blamed in Michigan and nationally for the crisis. The governor is sched- uled to appear before the committee on Thursday, along with EPA Adminis- trator Gina McCarthy. Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards, who helped expose the lead problem in Flint's water and is now as- sisting both the city and state, accused Hedman and the EPA of "willful blind- ness" and for being unre- pentant and unremorseful in the aftermath of the cri- sis. The committee's top Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cum- mings of Maryland, said he agreed the EPA could have done more. But Cummings said state authorities in Michigan also failed to act. The committee released several internal EPA emails, including a Sept. 22 mes- sage from Del Toral to his supervisors that outlined his frustration with what he called the agency's "de- nial and delay" approach in Flint. "At every stage of this process, it seems that we spend more time trying to maintain state/local rela- tionships than we do trying to protect the children," Del Toral wrote. Hedman told the com- mittee that she first learned that Flint was not imple- menting corrosion control treatment in late June 2015. That was about 14 months after the city started using Flint River water that was not treated with orthophos- phate, a chemical used for corrosion control, she says. Choking up at one point, Hedman said that although she has left government ser- vice she has not stopped thinking about the people of Flint. The EPA responded within the "cooperative fed- eralism framework" of the Safe Drinking Water Act, Hedman testified, which assigns states the legal au- thority to implement drink- ing water regulations. She said the EPA's enforcement options under the law are more constrained than in other federal environmen- tal statutes. The state-appointed emergency manager who oversaw the city when its water source was switched to the Flint River said he was "grossly misled" by state and federal experts who never told him that lead was leaching into the city's water supply. Darnell Earley said that he was overwhelmed by challenges facing the im- poverished city and relied on experts from the Mich- igan Department of Envi- ronmental Quality and the EPA to advise him. Ex-officialspointfingers at hearing on Flint crisis By Andrew Taylor The Associated Press WASHINGTON Dealing an embarrassing setback to House Speaker Paul Ryan, tea party conservatives are blocking a leadership- backed budget plan as the candidacy of GOP front- runner Donald Trump stokes anxiety among con- gressional Republicans fac- ing an angry, anti-Wash- ington electorate. The move by the House Freedom Caucus, the same band of conservatives that toppled Ryan's predecessor, John Boehner, would mean that the House would fail to pass a budget for the first time since Republi- cans reclaimed control of the chamber in 2011. For years, the GOP attacked Senate Democrats for the same failure. Ryan, R-Wis., cited "all of the anxiety that's com- ing to a crescendo in this country" for the reluctance of conservatives to endorse the budget plan, which calls for higher agency operat- ing budgets as agreed to in last year's budget deal with President Barack Obama. The fiscal blueprint, re- leased Tuesday by Bud- get Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., relies on eliminating health care subsidies and other cover- age provided by Obama's health care law, sharp cuts to Medicaid, and reprises a plan devised by Ryan years ago that would transform Medicare into a voucher- like program for future re- tirees. A deteriorating fis- cal picture required Price to propose deeper cuts than ever before. The annual budget de- bate gives lawmakers of all stripes a chance to weigh in on the nation's fiscal woes. The government borrows about 16 cents of every dol- lar it spends and faces a po- tential debt crisis at some point if Washington's war- ring factions don't address the problem. As in past years, GOP leaders have no plans to implement the severe cuts recommended by the non- binding blueprint. Instead, the main goal of the budget is to set in mo- tion the annual appropri- ations process, in which the 12 spending bills that set agency operating bud- gets are produced. That's the $1.1 trillion "discre- tionary" portion of the $4 trillion-plus federal budget that is passed by Congress each year. Many conservatives op- pose the additional $46 bil- lion or so in higher spend- ing that the deal with Obama permits for the up- coming round of appropri- ations bills for the 2017 fis- cal year starting Oct. 1; it comes on top of about $66 billion in higher spend- ing for the ongoing bud- get year. In sum, conservatives are tired that sweeping budget cuts are never implemented while Obama prevails on more money for agency op- erating budgets. A plan to advance real spending cuts along with the nonbinding budget targets didn't win over many tea party con- verts, in part because it's plain the cuts wouldn't make it through the Sen- ate. "There are a number of us struggling with it," said Rep. Mark Sanford, R- S.C. "Savings that are an il- lusion are not savings." The debate comes as out- sider presidential candi- dates like Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas are roil- ing the GOP electorate with an anti-Washington mes- sage. POLITICS Conservatives block budget; Ryan cites anxiety among voters WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B