Washington- A group of Maryland congressmen unveiled a bill Thursday that would fund the reconstruction and repair of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed last month when a container ship hit one of the main supports of the bridge.
The two-page bill, called the Baltimore BRIDGE Relief Act, would require the federal government to cover 100 percent of the cost of replacing the bridge. Six construction workers died when the span plunged into the Patapsco River in the early morning hours of March 26.
Maryland Democratic Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with Rep. Kweisi Mfume and other members of the state’s congressional delegation, introduced the bill Thursday.
“The federal government is a critical partner in this gargantuan task of reopening the Baltimore Harbor Navigation Channel and replacing the bridge with one built for modern commerce and travel needs,” Cardin said in a statement.
Cardin told CBS News that the bill “makes very clear” that the federal government will cover 100% of the cost of replacing the bridge. He pointed out that the federal government is normally responsible for covering 90%, “but during catastrophic events we have changed it to 100% in the past.”
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President Biden later said the federal government should pay for the total cost of its reconstruction and that he hoped that Congress would support this effort. In the weeks since, the federal government released $60 million in emergency relief funds, and the president last week announcement additional federal financial support to help the city’s economy.
It remains unclear exactly how much recovery and reconstruction efforts will cost. Some lawmakers have expressed concern about immediately approving additional federal funds for the project, rather than holding third parties responsible for damages. But the administration has stressed the importance of acting quickly on this issue, while working to reimburse taxpayers for future collection costs.
Cardin said he has spoken to colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the effort.
“This is a national issue. I believe we have strong bipartisan support for traditional 100% reimbursements,” Cardin said. “As far as replenishing the funds, we were able to do that on a bipartisan basis because every community across the country is impacted by these funds allocated to the Department of Transportation to deal with emergency situations.”
Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican from Maryland, said at a news conference this week that “the tragedy knows no partisanship” and pledged to work to pass the legislation through both houses of Congress.
“It was not a Republican tragedy, it was not a Democratic tragedy and the solution will not be a partisan solution, it will be a bipartisan solution,” Harris said.
This sentiment was echoed by Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who said on “Face the Nation” Sunday, that “this is not just a tragedy that has regional implications, but a tragedy that has national implications.” He said “the ability for us to have a collective, bipartisan response to rebuilding it is imperative.”
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