Biden vows feds will pay for ‘all’ of Baltimore bridge reconstruction despite House GOP pushback
President Biden promised Friday in Baltimore that the federal government will pay for “all” of the cost of rebuilding the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge — while saying he’d try to squeeze the “party responsible” to contribute to the “fullest extent the law will allow.”
Biden took a helicopter over the disaster zone where six construction workers died March 26 before receiving a briefing on efforts to reopen Baltimore Harbor’s channels for ships that carry much of the nation’s coal exports and car and farm equipment imports.
“Everyone including Congress should be asking only one question, and they’re going to be asked the question by your delegation: How can we help?” Biden said.
House Republicans in the conservative Freedom Caucus are urging the president to use already appropriated funds while forcing the owner and operator of the Singapore-flagged ship MV Dali, which struck the bridge, to foot the bill.
“My administration is committed to ensuring that the party responsible for this tragedy pay to repair the damage and be held accountable to the fullest extent the law will allow,” Biden said.
“But I also want to be clear: We will support Maryland and Baltimore every step of the way to help you rebuild and maintain all the business and commerce that’s here now.”
Biden added: “I fully intend, as the governor knows, that the federal government cover the cost of building this entire bridge — all of it — as we’ve done in other parts of the country in similar circumstances. I call on Congress to authorize this effort as soon as possible.”
The influential House Freedom Caucus said Friday that it opposes a fast-tracked federal appropriation for bridge repairs.
“Before Congress considers any emergency supplemental funding… it’s important that (1) we first seek maximum liability from the foreign shipping companies upfront and (2) the Port of Baltimore draws upon already available federal funds,” the group said.
“If it proves necessary to appropriate taxpayer money to get one of America’s busiest ports back online, Congress should ensure it is fully offset and that burdensome regulations (such as NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, the Davis Bacon Act, project labor agreements, etc.) are waived to avoid all unnecessary delays and costs.”
Biden said in his brief speech at the harbor that after clearing two small channels for wreckage removal operations, the Army Corps of Engineers projects that “by the end of April, they’ll be able to open a third channel for some commercial traffic including car carriers and by the end of May we’ll open the full channel.”
Reconstruction of the bridge could take years, officials have said. The Key Bridge opened in 1977 after five years of contstruction.
“First is our priority to reopen the port,” said Biden ahead of meeting with relatives of those who died in the bridge collapse. “Thousands of tons of mangled steel remain lodged in the water, blocking ships from moving in and out of the harbor.”
Biden touted $60 million in emergency funding already approved by his administration to address the disaster, including to provide aid to an estimated 20,000 workers whose jobs are impacted by the disaster.
The White House also announced millions of dollars more in funding for the Port of Baltimore, including an $8.26 million grant to more than double the port’s capacity for cargo vessels carrying cars to and from Sparrows Point southeast of Baltimore City, according to a White House fact sheet.
The Labor Department also released $3.5 million in funding from its Dislocated Worker Grants Program to help train or subsidize workers whose jobs were affected by the bridge disaster, as well as to assist with other clean-up.
The total cost of the bridge’s collapse into the Patapsco River could amount to as much as $4 billion, insurance analysts say, with at least $400 million going toward bridge construction alone.
It’s not yet clear why the Dali, which lost propulsion ahead of striking the bridge, experienced the technological issues.
Ahead of Biden’s Friday visit to Charm City, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young asked leaders of Senate and House committees dealing with infrastructure to fully “fund the repair and rebuild of the bridge.”
The damage caused when the Singapore-flagged MV Dali struck the suspension bridge, causing it to collapse into the Patapsco River could amount to as much as $4 billion, insurance analysts say.
Ahead of President Biden’s Friday visit to Charm City, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young also asked leaders of Senate and House committees dealing with infrastructure to fully “fund the repair and rebuild of the bridge.”
“While we continue to assess those costs alongside our Federal and State partners, we are asking Congress to join us in demonstrating our commitment to aid in recovery efforts by authorizing a 100 [%] Federal cost share for rebuilding the bridge,” Young wrote in a letter to the lawmakers.
“This authorization would be consistent with past catastrophic bridge collapses, including in 2007 when the Congress acted in a bipartisan manner within days of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota,” she added.
The letter’s recipients included Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) and House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.).
“Chairman Carper is reviewing and speaking with his colleagues about the request,” a spokesperson from the Environment and Public Works Committee told The Post. “He is committed to helping Maryland recover as quickly as possible and to supporting all federal efforts to get both the port operational and the bridge restored.”
A House committee aide told The Post that the funding is required to come from the Federal Highway Administration and other agencies for the next nine months before Congress would need to step in.
“The most immediate concern is reopening a navigable channel and the port work that is underway,” the aide said. “At this time, there has not been any indication of an urgent need for an emergency appropriation, although we expect that will eventually come.”
Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) said last week it would be “outrageous” for taxpayers’ money to be used “to pay for the entirety” of the bridge rebuild, noting that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had already suggested insurance funding could bear some of that cost.
The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package signed into law by Biden in November 2021 also contained “$400 billion in excess,” Meuser added, of which $5 billion was allocated for Maryland.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters in a White House press briefing that around $950 million in emergency funding was already available — and Young emphasized in her letter that the administration would consider “all avenues to recover the costs.”
The day after the bridge collapse, Biden promised to “move heaven and Earth” to federally fund the effort by constructing a new bridge and rebuilding the port, which ships between $100 and $200 million worth of goods per day and employs roughly 8,000 workers.
In addition to blocking shipping lanes, the collapse prevented tens of thousands of cars from being able to bypass the city on Interstate 695, known as the Baltimore Beltway.
