President Joe Biden visits Key Bridge collapse site, takes aerial tour with Gov. Wes Moore

BALTIMORE — President Joe Biden on Friday took an aerial tour of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, met with families of the six men killed and was briefed on the massive cleanup and rebuilding efforts before doubling down on his promise to have the federal government pay for it all.

“From the air I saw a bridge that’s been ripped apart. Here on the ground, I see a community that’s been pulled together,” Biden said on the banks of the Patapsco River as the sun broke through the overcast sky to illuminate the crash site in the distance behind him.

Wearing a jacket and baseball cap in the whipping wind, Biden committed to moving “heaven and earth to rebuild this bridge as rapidly as humanly possible.” He reiterated his pledge for the federal government to pay for the entire response — a process that began last week with quick access to federal emergency relief funds and the drafting of legislation to cover the rest.

The Democratic president’s visit came a little more than a week after a 984-foot shipping vessel hit the Key Bridge, sending it tumbling into the river and killing six construction workers who were filling potholes in the middle of the night. Biden said Friday he was grieving for the families of those men.

“It’s not the same but I know a little bit about what it’s like to lose a piece of your soul,” said Biden, whose wife and daughter were killed when he was a young senator, and whose son died of cancer in 2015. “You get that phone call in the middle of night saying family members are gone. I’ve been there. It’s feeling like having a black hole in your chest. Like you’re being sucked in unable to breathe. The anger, pain, the depth of loss is so profound.”

Before his remarks outside, Biden toured the site from Marine One with Gov. Wes Moore, who traveled on the president’s helicopter from the White House. The pair then received a briefing at the Maryland Transportation Authority Police Headquarters, where they heard directly about efforts to clear the channel and restore both shipping traffic in the Port of Baltimore and road transportation.

Biden listened quietly and asked a handful of questions before greeting first responders during the roughly 15-minute information session. Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers leaders walked Biden through what’s been happening in the water, including work to clear an initial channel for some vessels by the end of April.

Four large television screens depicted maps and images of the bridge site. Biden in one moment pointed to an image of the tangled underwater situation asking whether it was steel, though his other questions could not be heard by a small group of reporters in the room. Told of the unified state, local and federal efforts, the president at one point turned to Moore, directly to his left, and gave him an assuring tap on the shoulder. He went on to greet, one by one, law enforcement officers who stopped traffic on the bridge just moments before it collapsed.

Moore thanked Biden for his support, saying his first call from the White House was around 3 a.m. after the bridge fell around 1:30 a.m.

“President Biden might not be a Marylander by birth. But I tell you, he has proven what it means to be Maryland tough and Baltimore strong,” Moore said, referencing the mantra he’s used since the bridge collapse.

The Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday that it was pushing an “ ambitious timeline” to return port access to “normal capacity” by the end of May. A channel 280 feet wide and 35 deep that would allow barge container service and some vessels to pass through could also be open by the end of April.

Meanwhile, the remains of four of the six men who were killed when the bridge came down remain in the water, and the 21 crew members onboard the Singapore-flagged Dali are still on board.

“We’ll never forget the contribution these men made to this city. We’re going to work hard to recover each of them,” Biden said of the victims, adding his “vow is to not rest” until the bridge is rebuilt.

A $60 million “down payment” from the federal government was approved within days, allowing for vital cleanup work as cranes began arriving and removing the debris.

Most of the additional emergency relief funds, in an account flush with nearly $1 billion, can be approved by Biden. Some will need congressional approval, though, and Democratic U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, of Baltimore, said he’d introduce legislation next week to cover that and other federal funding issues.

With the far-right Freedom Caucus saying Friday it would force the Key Bridge funds to be contingent on other compromises, Mfume said the threat was intended to be obstructionist and that Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has told him he “understands the weight and the depth” of the problem.

Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, in a letter to Congress on Friday, asked for them to ensure that the federal government pays for 100% of the costs. She said the administration would pursue “any compensation for damages or insurance proceeds” to reduce the burden on taxpayers.

“Your nation has your back and I mean it,” Biden said.

The financial effect will be immense. Total costs for a new bridge could run high into the hundreds of millions, and insurance claims expected to reach $1 billion or more could make the collapse the maritime industry’s largest-ever financial loss.

Other officials who joined the president in his Baltimore briefing Friday were U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, Mfume, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski Jr. and Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman. All are Democrats and have taken steps within local or federal government to advance the relief efforts for the victims families, businesses that relied on the bridge and port, and plan for rebuilding.

Biden spoke of his own personal connections to the bridge and to Baltimore, where his father was born and his great-great grandfather worked as a waterman. Of the roughly 30,000 vehicles that traveled across it every day, he was one of them, commuting from Delaware to Washington, D.C., when he was a senator.

“Folks, we now face a question no American should ever have to ask: ‘How will I get to work? How will I get to school? How will I get to the hospital?’” Biden said. “The response of everyone, including Congress, should be asking only one question, and they’re going to be asked a question by your delegation, ‘How can we help?’”

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