Following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, President Joe Biden commits to federal funding for its reconstruction, despite earlier inaccuracies regarding his travel experiences over the bridge. The commitment comes amidst criticisms and the urgent need for infrastructure improvements.
President Biden pledged federal funding to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge after it collapsed. The incident occurred on March 26, when a container ship collided with the bridge, causing extensive damage.
Despite the lack of railway lines on the bridge, President Biden claimed to be familiar with it, stating that he had crossed it numerous times while traveling between Delaware and Washington by car and train.
"I have been over many, many times, commuting from the state of Delaware by train or by car," his statement read. The absence of railway tracks on the bridge, which has solely served as a roadway since its construction in the early 1970s, raises questions. He also mentioned his visits to Baltimore Harbor, emphasizing his connection to the area.
The official Donald Trump campaign social media account criticized President Biden for being "confused again" and pointed out the Francis Scott Key Bridge's lack of train tracks, adding to the confusion surrounding his remarks.
As a senator, President Biden expressed interest in using the Amtrak train. However, the route goes around Baltimore's city center and does not cross the river via the bridge.
Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace attempted to blame President Joe Biden's infrastructure policies for the bridge's disastrous collapse. Look at the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill done a couple of years ago that the Left hails as this massive success,” the South Carolina representative told Newsmax.
“It was mostly a Green New Deal.” She pointed out that only a portion of the money allocated by Biden’s infrastructure bill—$110 billion out of $1.2 trillion total—went towards roads and bridges like the one in Baltimore. “We're not spending it on roads and bridges,” Mace said.
Her remarks highlight how some Republicans have used the Baltimore tragedy, in which six people are presumed dead, to criticize what they see as misplaced priorities in the Biden administration's infrastructure agenda. The response to the collapse is quickly becoming a litmus test for Biden, who has made infrastructure improvements a cornerstone of his presidency and hopes to persuade voters ahead of the November election that he is best suited to address infrastructure challenges.
“Fairly or unfairly, the Biden Administration will be judged by how quickly it can line up funding and how quickly it can rebuild the bridge,” says Andy Winkler, an expert in disaster and infrastructure issues at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
As recovery efforts continue, Biden announced on Tuesday that he has directed his team to "move heaven and earth" to reopen the port and rebuild Baltimore's Francis Scott Key bridge "as soon as humanly possible." The President also stated that it is his "intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge" and that he expects Congress to support him.
According to Len Foxwell, a Democratic strategist based in Baltimore, moving quickly to rebuild the bridge could benefit Biden politically and provide him with another opportunity to demonstrate the urgency of his infrastructure agenda while campaigning for re-election.
“As terrible as this is, it gives the President and his team a chance to use this as a cautionary tale of what can happen to jobs, supply chains, and transportation mobility if something were to happen to our network of highways, bridges and overpasses. The world is going to be watching to see how long it takes for us to rebuild and to repair. And to the extent that this Administration can demonstrate the ability to get that process started with alacrity, they will benefit politically,” Foxwell stated.
Over the last two years, Biden and key members of his administration have traveled the country to promote the passage of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill, which includes tens of billions of dollars for projects such as rail tunnels under the Hudson River, Everglades restoration, and bridge replacements. The White House claims it is the most significant investment in bridge repair and reconstruction since the interstate highway system was completed in 1992.
However, convincing voters that these infrastructure investments have directly improved their lives may prove difficult for the Biden campaign. A year after the infrastructure bill was passed, polls revealed that most Americans had no idea Congress had passed it—and now a massive and fatal bridge collapse has dominated national headlines.
While initial investigations indicate that the bridge was fully up to code, the impact of the collapse goes beyond immediate safety concerns. The port is critical to vehicle shipping and employs over 15,000 people, with spillover effects expected in neighboring states such as Pennsylvania, a key swing state for Biden. Approximately 850,000 vehicles pass through the port yearly, with more than 30,000 crossing the bridge daily. A prolonged bridge closure, according to Winkler, would have far-reaching implications for the regional economy and local businesses.
"I think in moments like this, people want to see presidential leadership, but in our federal system, incidents like this require more of a partnership between local, state, and federal officials," Winkler said. He expects the cleanup to take weeks, while the bridge may take several years to rebuild fully. On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg acknowledged that rebuilding "will not be quick" and "will not be inexpensive."
Sawyer Hackett, a Democratic strategist, dismissed Republican attempts to link the bridge collapse to larger infrastructure debates. "The idea that Joe Biden is personally responsible for a 95,000-ton ship colliding with a bridge is ridiculous to anyone not living in a rightwing media bubble," he said. "This has nothing to do with infrastructure."
