--- title: Marco Rubio Not 'Fully Briefed' on Flint Water Crisis description: A no comment on a major public health issue canonical: https://time.com/4184557/marco-rubio-water-flint-hillary-clinton/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-18T21:59:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:13:38.062Z article:section: Politics og:title: Marco Rubio Not 'Fully Briefed' on Flint Water Crisis og:description: A no comment on a major public health issue og:url: https://time.com/4184557/marco-rubio-water-flint-hillary-clinton/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta223eaa56d28876f/6988798bbc6cfc13543db4af/marco-rubio-iowa.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4932 og:image:height: 2774 og:image:alt: Marco Rubio og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Marco Rubio Not 'Fully Briefed' on Flint Water Crisis twitter:description: A no comment on a major public health issue twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta223eaa56d28876f/6988798bbc6cfc13543db4af/marco-rubio-iowa.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Marco Rubio Not 'Fully Briefed or Apprised' of Flint Water Crisis > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke J Miller / Coralville, Iowa](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller / Coralville, Iowa Jan 18, 2016 9:59 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks during a town hall meeting, Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, in Ottumwa, Iowa. Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks during a town hall meeting, Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, in Ottumwa, Iowa.Mary Altaffer—AP by [Zeke J Miller / Coralville, Iowa](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller / Coralville, Iowa Jan 18, 2016 9:59 PM UTC Florida Senator [Marco Rubio](http://time.com/3819977/marco-rubio-campaign-launch/) said he couldn’t comment on the water crisis in Flint, Mich., Monday because he was not fully briefed on the situation. Asked by a Detroit reporter in Coralville to comment on Democratic criticism of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s handling of the crisis, in which the city’s water supply has been contaminated with lead, Rubio demurred. “I didn’t watch the debate so I have no idea what they said,” Rubio said. When the reporter asked whether he had an opinion on the water crisis and how Snyder was handling the situation, which has prompted a National Guard call-up and a federal emergency declaration, Rubio only said that the role of the federal government was limited in such situations. **Read more:** [History Shows It’s Still Too Early for Polls to Matter](http://time.com/4184449/iowa-caucus-election-polls/) “That’s not an issue that right now we’ve been focused on and for me to give you a deeply detailed answer on what the right approach should be on it, other than to tell you in general I believe that the federal government’s role in some of these things is largely limited unless it involves a federal jurisdictional issue,” Rubio said. “So, I’d love to give you a better answer on it, it’s just not an issue we’ve been quite frankly fully briefed or apprised of, in terms of the role the governor has played and the state has played in Michigan on these sorts of issues.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4184557/marco-rubio-water-flint-hillary-clinton/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4184557/marco-rubio-water-flint-hillary-clinton/"},"headline":"Marco Rubio Not 'Fully Briefed or Apprised' of Flint Water Crisis","datePublished":"2016-01-18T21:59:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:13:38.062Z","description":"A no comment on a major public health issue","url":"https://time.com/4184557/marco-rubio-water-flint-hillary-clinton/","keywords":["Water","Sen. 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