When disaster strikes in America, states must unite to overcome it

It’s been nearly two weeks since a 1,000-foot-long, 160-foot-wide 100,000-ton container ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, sending six construction workers and the center spans of the 8,000-foot bridge into the Patapsco River.

In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, President Joe Biden pledged that the federal government would pay to clear the river of debris; reopen the Port of Baltimore, which plays a crucial role in the U.S. supply chain; and replace the bridge. This is the right thing to do not only for the people of Maryland, but also for farmers in the Midwest and construction workers across the country who rely on Baltimore’s port for the import of heavy equipment.

Last week, the Department of Transportation released $60 million in emergency relief funds to start the process of evaluating and cleaning up the wreckage. But with the price for cleaning up the river and replacing the bridge expected to exceed $2 billion, congressional authorization for funding will almost certainly be required.

Before Donald Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party, congressional support in the aftermath of a national tragedy would have been all but guaranteed. It took Congress mere days to authorize $250 million in support following the 2007 collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minnesota.

Unfortunately for all of us, today’s MAGA Republicans appear poised to block federal funding for anything other than building a wall on the southern border. Under the cruel and ignorant “leadership” of the House Freedom Caucus, which takes its orders from Trump, congressional Republicans would rather throw you, your family, your neighbors and entire U.S. economy under the bus than spend one dime on a bridge and port in a state that didn’t vote for Trump.

Meanwhile, congressional Republicans like Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania feign concern about wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.

In an appearance on Fox News, Meuser said that, “It was kind of outrageous” for Biden to promise federal funds in response to the tragedy. “(Biden) doesn’t refer to it as the American taxpayer dollars on anything,” Meuser continued. “You know, the first reaction, in fact the only reaction, tends to be to spend.”

That’s funny, just two weeks ago Meuser celebrated the “investment” (read: spending) of millions of taxpayer dollars to replace a bridge in his own congressional district.

In a press release sent by his office March 21, Meuser said the Johnston Street Bridge posed “significant safety risks to residents,” requiring federal investment to “help ensure the safety and mobility of borough residents.” He went on to say that, “Without a functional bridge, members of the community would face considerable challenges in accessing essential services and navigating their daily lives.”

It should be noted that, unlike Baltimore’s Key Bridge, the Johnston Street Bridge connects only to a short dead-end road with fewer than a dozen homes on it.

Despite its limited purpose, we support federal funding for Johnston Street Bridge. One essential role of an effective government is to ensure that residential and commercial activity can transit on safe and reliable infrastructure.

It is appalling and shameful that Meuser would fight for millions of dollars in federal funding for a bridge that serves a handful of his constituents while rejecting President Joe Biden’s efforts to reopen an essential corridor of American commerce that serves millions of Americans and is the gateway to one of the largest ports in the United States.

Of course, Meuser isn’t alone.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., called Biden’s pledge “absurd” and “idiotic,” according to Fox News. Jeff Duncan, a fellow Palmetto State Republican, said “we must build a border wall” before we spend “one more dime for domestic infrastructure.”

Simultaneously, the most extreme Republicans have taken to the internet to blame the collision and subsequent bridge collapse on everything from diversity initiatives to green energy policies.

A Republican state legislator from our neighboring state of Utah took to X (formerly Twitter) to say that, “This is what happens when you have governors who prioritize diversity over the wellbeing and security of citizens.” A Republican former state legislator from Florida posted a video clip of the Key Bridge collapsing with the caption, “DEI did this.”

These comments are cruel and disrespectful to the people who lost their lives in the tragedy.

To be fair, not all Republicans have refused to help rebuild the Key Bridge. Oklahoma’s Tom Cole told Fox that, “Baltimore has every reason to expect a full and robust federal response.”

Former Republican National Committee chairman and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele even chastised the House Freedom Caucus, questioning his colleagues who are “supposedly leading us through crises … making political calculations instead of (saying), ‘How do we help this city, how do we help this state?’ ”

While we appreciate those few but faithful Republicans who still believe in American unity, it is clearer than ever that the new Trump-led GOP has little compassion for their fellow Americans.

We would like to urge Republicans in Congress to work with Democrats and pass the funding needed to reopen the port of Baltimore and rebuild the Key Bridge, but given the futility of such a request, we will instead urge voters to pay attention to what Trump and Republican lawmakers are saying and hold them accountable.

Baltimore may be on the other side of the country, but the closure of a major port, the loss of thousands of jobs and the inability of thousands of trucks to use an essential artery of transit affects the entire U.S. economy. Moreover, while we hope that tragedy and destruction on the scale of the Key Bridge never strikes closer to home, we must ensure that the elected officials we put in office will respond to the call for aid by saying, “Yes, how can we help you?” instead of playing politics with people’s lives.

Before Donald Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party, congressional support in the aftermath of a national tragedy would have been all but guaranteed.