Former RNC Chair Rebukes Republicans' Baltimore Bridge Response

Former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Michael Steele rebuked the response of GOP members who are skeptical of using federal funds to reconstruct Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge.

"What was so frustrating for me was the response of others to this crisis," Steele said Saturday morning on MSNBC's The Weekend. "The fact that we have Republicans now saying, 'We don't know, now, about paying for this.' This fall back into the politics in a critical moment like this. Again, wake up America. These are the leaders supposedly leading us through crises...making political calculations instead of, how do we help this city, how do we help this state?"

The Context:

The Dali container ship, a nearly 1,000-foot-long vessel, hit one of the bridge support columns at around 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday causing the entire structure to snap apart in several places and fall into the Patapsco River. Eight people were on the bridge when it collapsed. Two were rescued and the bodies of two more were recovered. Four remain missing and are presumed dead.

On Tuesday afternoon, President Joe Biden said the federal government should front the bill to rebuild the bridge following its collapse.

"It's my intention, that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge," he said during a press conference. "And I expect Congress to support my effort."

When asked if the company that chartered the ship that caused the collapse should be held responsible for funding the bridge's reconstruction, Biden said, "We're not going to wait for that to happen. We're gonna pay to get the bridge rebuilt and reopened."

GOP Representative Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania was among those pushing back on the Biden administration this week.

"It was kind of outrageous immediately for Biden to express in this tragedy the idea that he's going to use federal funds to pay for the entirety," the congressman told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo on Thursday. "You know, he doesn't refer to it as the American taxpayer dollars on anything. The first reaction, in fact the only reaction, tends to be to spend."

What We Know:

The closure of the Port of Baltimore after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge is forcing car manufacturers to adjust and look for alternatives for the transport of vehicles.

The Port of Baltimore is the largest handler of import and exports of automobiles and light trucks in the United States. Last year, nearly 850,000 cars came through the port, but that has now been suspended as authorities look to rebuild the bridge, which they acknowledge may take time.

Automakers tell Newsweek that the suspension of activities may lead to some disruption of their operations and that they were exploring alternatives.

"The Port of Baltimore is an important waterway for the automotive industry," a spokesperson at Stellantis, makers of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Maserati, told Newsweek in a previous statement. "We are initiating discussions with our various transportation providers on contingency plans to ensure an uninterrupted flow of vehicles to our customers and will continue to carefully monitor this situation."

Views:

Steele, speaking to the urgency of reconstructing the bridge, said on Saturday: "Those cars sitting in that port should be in our showrooms in Mississippi or North Carolina. But they're not because of this accident."

Former two-term Maryland Governor Larry Hogan told Fox News on Thursday that he'll push fellow Republicans to support federal funding to rebuild the bridge.

"I'm going to push them as hard as I can. I've already called a couple of Republican Senate leaders and started working them," said Hogan, who's currently running for Senate.

Representative Jeff Duncan, a Republican from South Carolina, told Fox News that Biden should reallocate funds from his $1 trillion infrastructure law signed in 2021.

"While I mourn the lives lost in Baltimore, we cannot haphazardly spend over $1 billion as America is $34 trillion in debt. Before we spend one more dime for domestic infrastructure, we must build a domestic border wall," he said. "Any funds used to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge should be reprogrammed from Biden's wasteful infrastructure bill."

What's Next?

The Francis Scott Key Bridge opened in 1977 and received about $60 million in federal funding so far for its repair.

According to the Associated Press, rebuilding the bridge could take anywhere from 18 months to several years, while the cost could be at least $400 million—or more than twice that.

Update 3/30/24, 11:06 a.m.: This story has been updated with additional information.

Update 3/30/24, 11:45 a.m.: This story has been updated with additional information.