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Congressional lawmakers are anticipated to maneuver rapidly on an anticipated supplemental spending request to cowl at the very least a part of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore following the collapse Tuesday, Fox Information has discovered.
It might take time to find out how a lot such a mission would value and what the precise wants will probably be.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning after a container ship crashed into one of many main bridge helps. In years previous, Congress has acted rapidly to commit funding to collapsed bridge and infrastructure catastrophes.
In an aerial view, cargo ship Dali is seen after working into and collapsing the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024 in Baltimore. Rescuers are trying to find at the very least seven folks, authorities say, whereas two others have been pulled from the Patapsco River. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Pictures)
Congress moved expeditiously after the lethal collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis in 2007, when 13 folks died and 145 had been injured. The Home unanimously fast-tracked a invoice approving 1 / 4 of a billion {dollars} to rebuild the bridge simply two days after the collapse. The vote was 421-0. The Senate then authorised a barely completely different model by unanimous consent. The Home then took the Senate model, approving that measure by unanimous consent. All informed, it took a handful of days after the accident to signal cash for the brand new bridge into legislation.
BALTIMORE BRIDGE COLLAPSE: CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS CONSIDERING FEDERAL ASSISTANCE
Emergency appropriations for Tuesday’s catastrophe might not transfer fairly as rapidly as they did in 2007, contemplating the scope of the tragedy and the scale of the outdated Key Bridge.
Congress is at present in recess and solely simply wrapped up an acrimonious combat over authorities spending. Democrat Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland in a Tuesday assertion supplied prayers for these concerned within the incident and promised to work with state leaders to “make federal assets accessible to reopen the Port of Baltimore, redirect essential highway site visitors, and rebuild the Key Bridge as rapidly as potential.”
Piling on further debt – with out offsets – might pose an issue within the Home, the place fiscal hawks are already raging towards Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in regards to the two spending payments.
Rep. Mike Johnson within the halls of Congress months earlier than he was elected speaker of the Home. (Workplace of Rep. Mike Johnson)
Nonetheless, sources conversant in Home operations informed Fox that they don’t count on there to be issues transferring a invoice for emergency bridge funding, although Home Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger, R-Texas, lately introduced she was giving up her gavel. Home Guidelines Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., is believed to have the within monitor to succeed Granger within the coming weeks.
Nobody anticipated the potential want for an additional appropriations invoice so quickly after passing spending measures within the early hours Saturday morning.
After the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed underneath its personal weight in 2007, the speedy motion of Congress and President George W. Bush helped pace restoration efforts and reconstruction of the bridge.
Bush’s emergency declaration for Minnesota, simply days after the bridge collapsed, allowed the state to get better prices from the federal authorities and start to take away particles from the scene.
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The late Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., was chairman of the Home Transportation Committee on the time. Though the bridge was not in Oberstar’s district, he was capable of muscle by means of an emergency appropriation of $250 million to the state’s division of transportation to start rebuilding the bridge.
The cargo ship Dali sits within the water after working into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024, in Baltimore. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Pictures)
The brand new I-35W bridge opened somewhat greater than a yr after the collapse.
Contemplating the quantity of commerce that funnels by means of the Port of Baltimore – to say nothing of site visitors and commerce which moved throughout the Francis Scott Key Bridge as a significant east coast artery – it’s potential Congress may very well be referred to as upon to supply funding to rebuild the bridge in report time.
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“After all it should have an effect on commerce,” Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., informed Fox Information Tuesday. “I’m nervous in regards to the households and the entire inconvenience that can happen as a result of the bridge is gone. It was such a very good hyperlink.”
Fox Information’ Thomas Phippen contributed to this story.
Congress anticipated to contemplate emergency spending measure to switch Baltimore bridge after collapse
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