White House Seeks Funds for Baltimore Bridge Repairs
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The leader of the Senate budget panel endorsed a recent emergency funding request from the White House specific to repairing a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore this year.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, called the Office of Management and Budget’s request “much-needed relief.”
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), the White House outlined a request for about $3 billion to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge as well as nearly $1 billion to rehabilitate regions hit hard by natural disasters over the past year.
“Families who’ve lost homes, workers who’ve lost their livelihoods, and communities who are working to rebuild are counting on Congress to step up and provide the help they need — and it’s critical we do just that,” Murray said June 28.
The Senate’s funding panel is scheduled to formally kick off consideration this month of fiscal 2025 appropriations bills. One of the dozen Senate funding bills will pertain to operations at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Families who’ve lost homes, workers who’ve lost their livelihoods, and communities who are working to rebuild are counting on Congress to step up and provide the help they need—and it’s critical we do just that. https://t.co/P0dFiFTvYR — Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) June 28, 2024
On the other side of the Capitol, the House Appropriations Committee scheduled a vote for July 10 on a bill that would fund operations at DOT for the upcoming fiscal year. Senate and House appropriators will be tasked to consider the White House’s funding request during bicameral negotiations.
Thus far, Congress has yet to clear for President Joe Biden’s signature any of the dozen annual appropriations measures circulating on Capitol Hill. Funding authority for the federal government expires Oct. 1. Failure to enact fiscal 2025 legislation by the fall deadline could result in a partial federal shutdown.
In her letter to the House Speaker, Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young explained the emergency funding request “would cover increased needs for repairing and rebuilding highways and roads that have been damaged in disasters and other emergencies across the nation, including the cost of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.”
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“The day the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed, the president made clear that the administration would use the full force of the federal government to help the city of Baltimore every step of the way,” she wrote on June 28.
Relatedly, a couple of months ago Maryland’s congressional delegation proposed legislation that would direct the federal government to cover the cost of the reconstruction. The bipartisan Baltimore BRIDGE Relief Act has not received bicameral consideration.
In June the Port of Baltimore reopened after multi-agency crews cleared its waterways. On March 26, six construction workers were killed after a containership slammed into the bridge. The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation is ongoing. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the port remains open for truck transactions.
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