Reid backs Flint deal

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is throwing his support behind a House deal on aid for Flint, Mich., that removes a key hurdle to avoiding a government shutdown.

{mosads}”I’m convinced that there’s going to be help for Flint in the lame-duck. They’ve been waiting for help, and I’m very happy it is going to come,” Reid said from the Senate floor.

Reid said earlier Wednesday that he still had “concerns,” and pushed Republicans to publicly commit to passing aid for the community in the end-of-year session.

His shift comes after Reid said that he spoke with leadership, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), on Wednesday morning.

“I’ve had conversations with people I’ve been given the assurance by the Republican leadership that something will happen in the lame-duck,” he added. “I’m comfortable in talking to [Pelosi] that the House feels comfortable with where they are on Flint.”

House leaders reached a late-night deal on Tuesday to allow a vote on an amendment adding emergency funding for communities with lead-contaminated drinking water like Flint.

The move paves the way for lawmakers to avoid an election-year government shutdown by resolving the water issue, which has slowed down a short-term funding bill in the Senate.

Senate Democrats joined with roughly a dozen Republicans on Tuesday to block a bill that would fund the government through Dec. 9 over the Flint fight.

Reid said on Wednesday that there are still a “couple of other outstanding issues” but that the Senate should be able to wrap up its work on the CR.

“It should be a good day for the Senate. It should lead to our being able to move forward on this continuing resolution,” he said.