U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser on Thursday criticized President Biden for promising to pay for rebuilding Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, calling the promise “exorbitant” given the surplus funds already available for infrastructure projects. ”.
“It’s kind of outrageous that Biden has expressed the idea that this tragedy would be covered entirely with federal funds,” Muser (R-Pennsylvania) said in an interview with Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo. That was the case,” he said.
“He never said it was American taxpayer money for anything,” he said. “The first reaction, and really the only reaction, is to tend to spend money.”
The Singapore-flagged container ship MV Dali, carrying consumer goods, crashed into a suspension bridge pillar and fell into the Patapsco River early Tuesday morning.
Federal and state investigators said six construction workers died in the accident, which may have been caused by the ship losing power.
The accident immediately shut down the Port of Baltimore, which imports and exports between $100 million and $200 million worth of goods, including cars, light trucks and sugar, and employs about 8,000 workers.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg debunked some of the statistics during a White House press conference on Wednesday, a day after the 81-year-old Biden promised to “move heaven and earth” to rebuild the bridge.
“Together we will rebuild the port,” the president said. “It is my intention that the federal government pay the full cost of rebuilding that bridge, and I hope Congress will support my efforts.”
Buttigieg said that while the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which opened in 1977, took five years to build, “that doesn’t mean it’s going to take five years to replace it.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen suggested some of the cost would be covered by “insurance proceeds,” but the Lloyd’s of London chairman said Thursday the cost would likely amount to billions of dollars in losses. .
International credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS estimated the cost of the insurance claim at $4 billion.
“This was a tragedy, we all witnessed it. People lost their lives, but this is a very important port,” Muser said on “Morning with Maria.”
“But, you know, this was a Singapore-flagged ship. So what responsibility do they have?” he asked.
“At least Janet Yellen is thinking a little bit outside the box and considering what insurance funding will look like instead of just spending taxpayer money.”
Mueser said the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan that Biden signed into law in November 2021 also included a “$400 billion overage,” which would be added to the bill. He added that this is why he voted against the bill.
“By the way, Maryland got almost $5 billion on top of the threshold.” [infrastructure bill] They have the money because they are funding it,” he said.
Buttigieg told reporters that an emergency fund of about $950 million is already in place.
It remains unclear how much of that money will go toward rebuilding and keeping the Port of Baltimore’s thousands of workers on the payroll.
The bridge collapse also cut off travel on Interstate 695, commonly known as the Baltimore Beltway, for tens of thousands of motorists.
