President Joe Biden is touring the site of the collapsed bridge in Baltimore on Friday amid political upheaval over how to pay for its recovery, which is expected to cost up to $2 billion.
Conservatives on Capitol Hill already oppose the price.
The House Freedom Caucus wants all of the money to be “fully offset” by cuts elsewhere in the federal budget and is demanding that the Biden administration lift its pause on approvals for natural gas export projects before approving any bridge money.
Biden will take an aerial tour of the Patapsco River at the mouth of Baltimore Harbor via Marine One, where he will see the remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge as cranes, ships and diving teams work to reopen one of the massive shipping routes . .
President Joe Biden leaves the White House to head to Baltimore and tour the site of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
President Joe Biden, in Marine One, flies over the remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge
President Joe Biden receives an operational briefing on response and recovery efforts.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers then briefed the president on the repair process.
Brigadier General John Lloyd of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said one task is to remove a large section found on the ship. She is 5,000 tons and 125 feet tall. They are trying to cut that piece off the ship and remove it, so the ship can move as well. He also described a “mangled mess” underwater. He said he had 51 divers and 12 cranes on site to work on it.
Crews are trying to remove sections of the ship and collapsed bridge to open channels in the water to allow cargo ships to pass through.
The bridge, in one of the country’s busiest ports, was hit by a huge cargo ship and collapsed in the middle of the night on March 26.
Eight workers – all immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador – were filling potholes on the bridge when it was hit. Two men were rescued, but the bodies of only two of the six who died have been recovered.
The president plans to meet with the families of the victims.
The White House announced Friday that it has asked Congress to authorize the federal government to cover 100% of the costs of cleaning up and rebuilding the collapsed bridge, rather than seeking the money through a separate request for emergency supplemental funding.
In a letter to congressional leaders, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young noted that similar techniques were used for recovery and rebuilding efforts that received bipartisan support from Congress in 2007, when a highway bridge in downtown Minneapolis collapsed during the evening rush hour, killing 13 people.
“We ask Congress to join us in demonstrating our commitment to assisting recovery efforts,” Young wrote. It is not yet clear how much money the administration will need to cover the cost.
The Federal Highway Administration has already provided $60 million in emergency funds to begin repairs. And the Department of Transportation has allocated $8.2 million to help reroute freight.
A temporary shipping route has been installed to assist in the repair process and move some cargo.
President Joe Biden, aboard Marine One, takes an aerial tour of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore
View of the Dali freighter that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge
President Joe Biden receives briefing on bridge collapse
President Biden walks toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House
The conservative House Freedom Caucus demands that Reconstruction not become a “pork-filled” spending project.
“Before Congress considers any emergency supplemental funding for the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, it is important that (1) we first seek maximum upfront liability from foreign shipping companies and (2) the Port of Baltimore turns to federal funds already available. the group wrote in a memo released Friday.
Earlier this week, several operators of the ship – named Dali – filed a petition in a US federal court to limit the liability they owe for causing the accident.
They cited a law from the 1850s that could help them limit their liability to close to the ship’s total cost, which they claim is $43.7 million.
But the total cost could rise to $2 billion, almost 50 times more than the price operators intend to pay.
Lawsuits against the boat operators must be filed in federal court in Baltimore by Sept. 24, according to a federal judge.
“If taxpayer money becomes necessary to bring one of America’s busiest ports back online, Congress should ensure that it is fully compensated and that burdensome regulations are eliminated… to avoid delays and costs unnecessary.”
The conservative group also demands that money allocated to the project be “strictly limited to repairs to physical structures with a federal nexus.”
“This should not become a bill loaded with unrelated projects,” the note states.
The group says it wants the vote on bridge funding to respect the “single subject rule,” and indicates that if additional measures are attached to the legislation, they could oppose it.
“Finally, the Biden Administration’s pause on approving liquefied natural gas export terminals – which, like the closure of the Port of Baltimore, has serious implications for foreign trade – must be lifted before Congress considers allocating funds for the reconstruction of the bridge.
The pause in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports has been a particular sticking point for Republicans in recent months.
The Biden administration halted LNG exports earlier this year to conduct an environmental review of the process, which Republicans have called unnecessary and harmful to the industry.
President Biden’s motorcade passes by the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge
The remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge
The cranes are already working on repairs.
A prolonged closure of the bridge and the Baltimore Harbor area could be a hit to the economy.
The Port of Baltimore typically moves up to $200 million in cargo per day, and is the leading hub for vehicle imports and exports.
Senior White House officials including Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, Senior Advisor Tom Perez and Economic Adviser Lael Brainard have called large employers in the Baltimore area to encourage them to retain workers, a White House official said. White House. Those companies include United Parcel Service, Amazon.com, Home Depot and Mercedes-Benz.
Biden, on the day of the collapse, said the federal government will pay for the repairs in full and that they will be done as quickly as possible.
‘We will get it up and running again as soon as possible. 15,000 jobs depend on that port. And we are going to do everything we can to protect those jobs,” Biden said in remarks at the White House.
“I am ordering my team to move heaven and earth three, open the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as possible,” he said.
‘My intention is for the federal government to pay the full cost of rebuilding that bridge. I hope Congress will support my effort; this will take some time. The people of Baltimore can count on us to support them every step of the way,” Biden said at the time.
The Singapore-flagged Dali crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26.
The accident occurred around 1:30 a.m. on March 26. The ship, the Dali, flying the Singapore flag, it was 20 minutes on his journey when he crashed into a support column on the bridge.
However, the ship’s crew managed to issue a mayday call before it crashed into the bridge, allowing officials to prevent cars from passing over the bridge.
The 948-foot-long Dali, a Singapore-flagged container, It left Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal at 12:24 a.m. At 1:25 a.m. it began to slow and veered off course. The video shows the lights going out on board just before the accident.
The Dali ship was headed to Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is not clear what load she was carrying. The ship was due to land in Asia on April 27.
About 30,000 vehicles use the bridge, named after the author of the Star Spangled Banner, each day. It was inaugurated in 1977.