1y ago

Biden vows to reopen Baltimore port, rebuild collapsed Key Bridge

President Biden vowed Tuesday to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge after it collapsed into the water when a cargo ship rammed into it, echoing what some Maryland officials said earlier but adding that he expects the federal government to foot the bill.

“It’s my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect the Congress to support my effort,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “This is going to take some time, but the people of Baltimore can count on us though to stick with them at every step of the way until the port is reopen and the bridge is rebuilt.”

He said he spoke with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) on Tuesday morning, as well as Maryland officials including its congressional delegation and two U.S. senators. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg traveled to the Baltimore site.

157 comments

I’m pretty sure they were going to do that with or without him. the party responsible for the incident should be the one fitting the bill
- Yes, but ascertaining liability and securing a payout is a process that may take many years of being dragged through the courts, if it is even successful at all.
  The government making money available immediately does help get things going with less uncertainty about who can foot the bill.
  
  this is all good... the problem is that, with the issue solved, nobody will put pressure to get that money back
  look at the BP spill, they barely took a hit on their profit margin and left a mess that nobody is looking at anymore
- Bridges are fucking expensive, I'm not certain if the government will be able to recover a significant portion of the cost.
- Someone doesn't remember the 9/11 responder funding, hurricane funding, the rhetoric around COVID funding, etc. etc.
- Footing the bill.. but yes. Then again, maybe with the amount of shipping traffic a tunnel makes more sense.
  
  We have two nearby tunnels. They'll be packed now. But hazmat trucks and larger oversized vehicles can't go through tunnels. There's also a longer way around the northwest of the city, but that'll be crowded now too. That's where everyone lives. The bridge over the river was the interstate trucking corridor from DC to Philly up to New York and Boston.
  
  The problem was the boat. It has done this kind of shit before in 2016.
People keep saying “Key Bridge” and idk if they’re referring to the name or the fact that it’s a vital port for the east coast
- Thanks for the explanation for all of the non local people
  
  Yeah I was just making a joke about the name
  
  Thatsthejoke
- Yes.
- It's the name.
  I Live 20 mins from the bridge and it's what it's always been called. Way better than the full name in terms of efficiency lol
- DC has its own key bridge, so it's doubly confusing for that reason.
Well, obviously.
Its not like they are gonna go "you know what, it can't fall any further, lets just leave well enough alone."
- I mean he could've shown up 2 weeks late, and starting throwing Paper Towels at people.
  Because if you'll remember that is all our former president did and it led to 2975 People Dying
By himself, with fused vertebrae? Doubt.
They wouldn't want reconstruction money coming from the $1b cop city project
Remember kids... ALWAYS socialise the costs!
- Yeah, that's how roads and bridges are built moron.
  
  Well, axchually... toll roads and bridges are a thing. Even if they're built by a gov't that recoups its' costs, I'd say that counts as a user-pay situation.
- Is this satire?
  If not, do you want to wait 20 years until the lawsuits against the shipping companies (yes, plural) are all done and appeals finished before you can extract a few million to cover part of the multiple hundred millions a rebuild will cost?
  Infrastructure is too important.
  
  You are so deep in the system, you can't tell you are drowning
- I get ya man, corporations steal constantly and when they break stuff we pay for it. The corpos won't pay their fuckin taxes and then break shit.
“It’s my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect the Congress to support my effort,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “This is going to take some time, but the people of Baltimore can count on us though to stick with them at every step of the way until the port is reopen and the bridge is rebuilt.”
Any minute now... Just like his other "vows".
Also, crazy how the headline makes it sound sure to happen, and his actual statement is filled with weasel words.
Give politicians credit for what they do, not for they "vow" to do.
- Give politicians credit for what they do, not for they “vow” to do.
  Good point, and there's a lot of credit to give to Biden on the economy, judges, infrastructure, and even some steps on climate change. So yeah, I think this bridge will probably be rebuilt as he said.
  But you're right- we know that because of what he's done, not what he says. Always good to keep that in mind.
  
  Don't forget record oil production, record homelessness, and his strike breaking!
- Jesus Christ dude, it's been like 12 hours. What do you expect him to have done by now?
  
  What would be cool is not use federal funds to repair a bridge a billions dollar company damaged...
  If I drive into a house, me or my insurance has to pay for it...
  But when a billion dollar corporation destroys critical infrastructure, our tax dollars pay for it?
  Explain that to me.
  Why do we pay for our mistakes and companies mistakes?
  When do companies pay?
- The quick list is biggest single action on climate change in US history, estimated to hit a 40% reduction in emissions by 2030, $144 billion forgiveness of student loan debt, lowest unemployment in 20 years (or 50 depending on how you count) even after the Covid apocalypse which most countries haven't even dug out from yet, wage inequality going down for the first time in I have no idea how long, Amazon paying $3 billion per quarter in corporate tax instead of the negative $1.2 billion they were paying before his corporate tax reform.
  He vowed / attempted to do a certain amount more than that, yes, and getting that more stuff done also would be great too, but it's not like he's just been fucking off playing golf this whole time.
  For what reason the news doesn't highlight that type of stuff and instead focuses on whatever they focus on, I have no idea.
  
  For what reason the news doesn’t highlight that type of stuff and instead focuses on whatever they focus on, I have no idea.
  Easy, they want outrage. Biden following through on some mundane promise made some time ago riles up exactly no one, therefore it doesn't get a headline. Modern media is extremely predictable in their approach.
  
  Is this the one that keeps getting removed for being bullshit propaganda?
- Not to defend politicians or journalists.... But the headline is clear this is just a promise to act someday
- Wtf lol
  
  ....
  Have you just never heard the phrase?
  It's common in America.
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_word
- Oh, there you go again

157 comments