Funding Baltimore Bridge Repair

We just gave the update on where things stand and there are so many questions that we cannot answer yet, including the duration of what Pete Buttigieg is describing as a very complicated project and the timeline, not to mention how we’re going to pay for it. This debate over funding is about to get underway. What’s it going to look like? Well, our colleague at Bloomberg Government, Zach Cohen, just released a stat from his reporting on the Hill that there are estimates it will cost about 2 billion to fix it. We’ve already heard President Biden come out and say that he wants the government to foot the bill, but that will involve a number of things, potentially funding from the infrastructure bill, funding from Department of Transportation and likely some type of supplemental from Congress. And as we’ve seen time and time again, getting things through Congress is not smooth right now. Well, that’s absolutely right, $2 billion. That’s really important and I’m glad that you mention that, Peggy. It’s the first time I’ve heard a number on this. Jonathan, what’s Congress going to say? Well, Republicans in the House say, yeah, I don’t think it’s going to be smooth sailing as Peggy mentioned. I If you think back to Superstorm Sandy a little while back and there was a push for emergency aid right then for New York and New Jersey, there was a lot of resistance from Republicans. And they said any new spending needed to be offset with cuts. Democrats said, no, this is an emergency. We don’t, you know, hold a state or a city hostage over when they’re having an emergency. And I think you kind of those comments from Governor Moore, we’re almost anticipating some of this fight where he was saying this isn’t just the Maryland issue, it affects other states as well, right? I spoke earlier here, as I mentioned with the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg. He spoke about how the ship’s cargo currently is being handled to give us a sense of how delicate this whole operation is. Let’s listen. What we’re seeing right now is other ports are preparing to absorb some of those shipments. It really depends though on the type of shipment. That’s exactly why we’re so glad that this freight office is up and running. This was created by the president’s bipartisan infrastructure package. We stood it up in accordance with the with that legislation and it is coming in hand. This is not air traffic control. There’s no one kind of tower, so to speak or authority that tells ships where to go the way you have for aircraft. They are independent actors. We’re bringing them to the table to make sure that there’s better coordination. He’s going to be holding an important meeting tomorrow with supply chain stakeholders, as the White House likes to say. This is not the first time, though, as he talks about this freight office that this White House has had to deal with supply chain issues. We think about what’s happening in the Red Sea and we bring it all the way back to COVID. That’s right, Joe. I mean, supply chain shocks, shocks have been one of the biggest things that this economy has had to deal with for several years now. Our Chief, US economist, Anna Wong, had a piece out today that notes that one of the things the country is trying to deal with is inflation coming down. And one of the things that has been a part of that is car prices. You know, we talked so much about used car prices and car prices during the pandemic and we have seen those coming down. The part of the Port of Baltimore is very much so important when it comes to automotive bills. And so the question is whether or not those prices will start to rise if that port is out of Commission for a long period of time and things have to get diverted to places like Newark or even the West Coast. When you wonder if some of these diversions could be permanent, to the detriment of Baltimore and the local economy, they’re getting back to the transportation secretary. Before I spoke with him earlier today on Bloomberg, he held forth in the briefing room at the White House. Here’s what he told reporters. What we do know is a bridge like this one, completed in the 1970s, was simply not made to withstand a direct impact on a critical support pier from a vessel that weighs about £200 million, orders of magnitude bigger than cargo ships that were in service in that region at the time that the bridge was first built. That’s really important, Jonathan, because it tell us this is not really an infrastructure problem. This was a bridge that was up to code. And this is going to come back to who is at fault at some point. And I wonder what the response will be from Congress on that specific issue. The president says the federal government should rebuild it before we start dealing with who was at fault or liabilities. Yeah. And I think it dovetails with kind of the image that President Biden has tried to put forward from the start of his presidency, that he’s the infrastructure president, that he’s the guy who’s going to rebuild things, was one of his first really big signature pieces of legislation. So even though it’s highly unlikely this will get rebuilt in time for the election, he and his administration are going to want to show progress and and and to kind of basically build on the Biden brand as they head towards an election. We’ve got another hit from Congress today, another departure. Annie Custer, in this case representative from New Hampshire, a Democrat. Jonathan, I’ve lost count at this point. I think we’re beyond 40 resignations in this Congress and it is both sides of the aisle what’s going on. It is and it’s a little surprising because usually you see one side leaving kind of heading for the hills when they realize they’re going to be in the minority and Democrats are pretty confident they’re going to gain the majority. And so Custer, you would think, would would relish that. She is the chair of the New Democrats. I I don’t know how much longer she would have been able to remain in the chair. So it’s possible that she’s term limited there. I also just think Congress has not been a fun place to be for the past two years. You know, there’s just so hard to get things done. There’s so much fighting going on. I just think a lot of people are not enjoying their work there right now. Annie Custer, who is in front of that, that write in campaign for Joe Biden in the primary that wasn’t in New Hampshire. You know, Peggy, I’d ask you if this was a generational turnover, but the fact is it’s not. Look at Mike Gallagher. So many young lawmakers are leaving as well. Is this the worst job in the world? Well, I think as we were just talking, it has become a place that’s incredibly politically divided. And a lot of people in the past have gone into Congress because they actually think they can make a difference in the country. And I think that’s what we’re really at the crossroads of. And we are in an election year, right. And Trump is on the on the ballot with Biden. And that is something that is also facing people in Congress, very much so in in the face. In terms of whether or not they want to see this through into 2025. Well, the generational change it appears will not be coming in the presidential campaign. As we talk more about the age of these two gentlemen, just about any policy that they’re talking about, Peggy Joe Biden’s going to be on stage with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama tomorrow, a fundraiser in New York, putting the band back together again. Does that help him, bringing the former presidents on the stage to make him look younger, more relevant, remind people of the good old days? What’s the point? Well, I think it certainly rallies the base, right? It gets people excited about the history of the Democratic Party in in our generation and time. I think one of the other things to note that we’ve been reporting on here in DC is the delta in terms of the money raised, You know, Biden does have a clear advantage. And it is when it comes to fundraising and the money that he has, he and the Democratic Party have been able to raise. And this is another way to get more people out, to potentially get farther ahead on the money front. While Trump is dealing with his legal battles and legal fines, it’s not a mistake that this is taking place in New York. Presidents going up to the ATM in Manhattan here. And if you show up with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, that’s a win, right? You hailed from New Jersey. This is Clinton and Obama country, yeah. It’s very blue territory. And he’s going to be up there with people who frankly are more popular than he is, which is I’m sure that they’re hoping that that rubs off on the president and just reminds people in general of, you know, other Democrats who have won the popular vote, who’ve won the Electoral College twice and and kind of reminds them of the party brand writ large, even if President Joe Biden himself is not particularly popular right now.