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Water investigations said to test Biden racial equity pledge

FILE - Joe Biden, then seeking the Democratic nomination for president, speaks at New Hope Baptist Church on March 8, 2020, in Jackson, Miss. Federal investigations into public spending on the failing water system in Mississippi's majority-Black capital city are a test of President Biden's commitment to racial equity, one of his congressional allies told hundreds of people at a town hall meeting on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, hosted by the NAACP. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File) U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., speaks to an audience of Jackson residents regarding the failing water system in Mississippi's majority-Black capital city, Monday, Oct. 24, 2022 at a town hall meeting at New Hope Baptist Church, hosted by the NAACP. The Environmental Protection Agency announced last Thursday that it is investigating whether Mississippi state agencies have discriminated against Jackson by refusing to fund water system improvements in the city of 150,000, where about a quarter of the population lives in poverty. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) Dr. Berthrone Mock-Muhammad, of the Heart Plus Diagnostic Clinic, tells a town hall audience of the poor quality of the city's water Monday, Oct. 24, 2022 in Jackson, Miss. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and NAACP national president Derrick Johnson, chaired the meeting where residents spoke about the failing water system and received information on the EPA starting an investigation on whether Mississippi state agencies have discriminated against Jackson by refusing to fund water system improvements in the city of 150,000, where about a quarter of the population lives in poverty. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) NAACP national president and Jackson, Miss., resident, Derrick Johnson left, meets attendees of a town hall meeting, Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, where Johnson and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., addressed the issue of directing federal money towards fixing the failing water system in Mississippi's majority-Black capital city. The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it is investigating whether Mississippi state agencies have discriminated against Jackson by refusing to fund water system improvements in the city of 150,000, where about a quarter of the population lives in poverty. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., displays a letter to Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves that expresses concern over what he believes is the inadequate federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address the failing water system in Mississippi's majority-Black capital city, Jackson, Miss., Monday night, Oct. 24, 2022, at a town hall meeting, hosted by the NAACP. The Environmental Protection Agency announced last Thursday that it is investigating whether Mississippi state agencies have discriminated against Jackson by refusing to fund water system improvements in the city of 150,000, where about a quarter of the population lives in poverty. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., speaks to an audience of Jackson, Miss., residents regarding the failing water system in Mississippi's majority-Black capital city, Monday night, Oct. 24, 2022 at a town hall meeting at New Hope Baptist Church, hosted by the NAACP. The Environmental Protection Agency announced last Thursday that it is investigating whether Mississippi state agencies have discriminated against Jackson by refusing to fund water system improvements in the city of 150,000, where about a quarter of the population lives in poverty. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) NAACP national president Derrick Johnson, who lives in Jackson, Miss., with his family, tells residents that the state needs to direct federal money toward "clean, safe drinking water for every citizen of this city" during a town hall meeting hosted by the NAACP on the failing water system in Mississippi's majority-Black capital city, Monday, Oct. 24, 2022. The Environmental Protection Agency announced last Thursday that it is investigating whether Mississippi state agencies have discriminated against Jackson by refusing to fund water system improvements in the city of 150,000, where about a quarter of the population lives in poverty. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)