Snyder Calls for Meeting With Obama During Flint Visit

FLINT, MI — On May 4, President Barack Obama will visit Flint for the first time since the Flint water crisis.

Obama is visiting Flint to meet personally with Mari Copney, 8, better known as "Little Miss Flint." After recieving a letter from the child activist, Obama decided to go to Flint to learn more about the public health crisis, receive an in-person briefing on the federal efforts in place to help respond to the needs of the people of Flint, and speak directly with members of the Flint community.

“Like you,” Obama wrote, “I’ll use my voice to call for change and help lift up your community.”

But today you can add another name to the list of people eager to see the president went he visits Flint: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.

"Hopefully I'm going to have an opportunity to sit down with the president and Mayor Weaver," Snyder said during a press conference, as reported by Mlive.com. "(I) made a request to have a meeting, so we can talk about how we can work in a bipartisan fashion to support Flint."

Snyder made his remarks while filling up four gallons of filtered Flint water, as part of his pledge to drink the water for at least 30 days to prove it's safe.

Just last week, when Obama announced his visit, Snyder cast doubt on whether or not he would meet with the president. Snyder cited his “pretty full schedule," reported the Detroit News. Because when the leader of the free world shifts around his plans to visit your state — the scene of a public health disgrace — it's hard to accommodate them. But it seems Snyder has had a change of heart.

But will the president meet with Gov. Snyder? That's to-be-determined, according to White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

“We’re still putting together the president’s visit,” Earnest said. “It’s traditional when a president travels to invite the governor of a state to at least greet him on the tarmac. …We’ll keep you posted on what interactions they’ll have.”

[Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore]

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