Perry Pushes For Speedy Funding For Key Bridge Relief: We Can't ’Wait For The Insurance Companies’

4 months ago

Last week, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) questioned DOT officials on the funding and plan for relief following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing.

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Transcript

00:00 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll begin. I just offer my condolences to the family,

00:04 and I think it underscores the circumstance, underscores how potentially horrific,

00:09 almost unimaginable, what might be seen as mundane work can end up being at a critical moment. It is

00:17 unimaginable. If you can imagine yourself at two or three in the morning,

00:21 falling 100, 200 feet into the water, steel and concrete crashing around you. With that,

00:27 Administrator Bott, the Francis Scott Key Bridge is a toll, or was a toll facility that never

00:33 received any federal funding prior to the collapse, right? Yes, sir. And how much revenue did

00:40 the state of Maryland receive or generate from the bridge on an annual basis, if you know?

00:46 Sir, I'd have to double check. I don't want to give you a false impression on that. I didn't

00:50 know if you would have a different figure than I do. I've got about 56.8 million in 2023,

00:55 just for your reference. So that's what they were taking in. Under the current law and under

01:01 this administration's plan, the bridge would get 100 percent share. So the federal government would

01:07 pay 100 percent of that. And while you say that this is consistent with bridge collapse emergencies

01:14 in the past, and I think you're referring to the I-35 collapse, that was not a toll bridge,

01:21 right? That was part of the interstate system. And so my questions, I guess, center around payment

01:29 for this. I think we can all agree that we probably and shouldn't wait for the insurance

01:35 companies and the litigators to work it out. But Maryland had insurance on the bridge, didn't they?

01:40 Sir, I'm aware of one policy that Maryland has for $350 million.

01:47 $350 million, right? So that should, by all rights, you would assume be actioned and go

01:53 towards paying for a portion, whatever portion of the bridge reconstruction it would pay for, right?

01:59 Absolutely, sir. I have yet to go through and have our lawyers figure out exactly what is in there.

02:07 But yes, whatever portion of that $350 million, we would apply.

02:11 So I guess when you say consistent with past emergencies, as you already said,

02:17 the relief fund is $3.7 billion behind. We're $35 trillion this month in debt at the federal level.

02:26 And I wonder if you think it's fair that the American taxpayer should not only pay

02:32 to reconstruct the bridge, but then pay tolls after which to use the infrastructure they just

02:40 paid for in their taxes. Is that because you're going to set a new precedent here?

02:44 Is that the precedent we're going to set? Or is there some plan to recoup the cost of

02:51 reconstruction of the bridge? And I think according to the figures we've heard today,

02:55 upwards of $2 billion, a bridge that originally cost $60.3 million. Is there some plan to recoup

03:03 that and send that back into the disaster relief fund or to the highway fund, which continually

03:11 needs massive infusions from the general fund just to stay afloat? What's the plan?

03:16 Yeah, thank you, sir. Very important questions, and I appreciate your interest. So let me just

03:22 try to quickly go through that. Where this was a Maryland state facility before, now it's been

03:28 designated as part of the interstate system. They were free before to collect their tolls and use

03:34 them for maybe Port of Baltimore, whatever they were using them for. Now, since this has been

03:40 federalized as a facility and going forward when the tolls are restored, as part of the interstate

03:45 system, they will have to use those for Title 23 eligible funding. So whether it's the maintenance

03:52 of the existing bridge or other Title 23 highway purposes in Maryland, so the American taxpayer

03:59 will be benefiting from those tolls. In terms of the precedent, if it was a pre-existing toll

04:05 facility, they are allowed to toll the facility going forward. But again, it would be using Title

04:12 23 eligible expenditures on those tolls. I understand the Title 23 expenditures and

04:18 understand that they'd be used for surface transportation in Maryland, but you're asking

04:22 the taxpayers from across the country to pay for it. And, you know, if you're from Washington state,

04:28 likely you're never going to travel across that bridge, but you're sure going to pay for it.

04:32 And as long as we're setting precedent, I think it would be appropriate at least to consider

04:36 reimbursing through the tolls, the emergency fund or the transportation fund for the entire country

04:45 before all of the money goes right back to the state that's going to be receiving it where the

04:51 bridge resides, which arguably I think can be said was not prepared to withstand the traffic impact

04:58 that it had. Meanwhile, it's right there. I mean, it's not like it was a surprise that the bridge is

05:04 there and ships are going under it and this could happen. So with that in mind, you know, with the

05:12 time that I've already expended and expired, I hope you would consider a plan to reimburse the

05:17 taxpayer under horrific debt right now, who can't afford their groceries, their gas bills, their

05:22 daycare bills for the cost of this bridge for which one state has been receiving all the money

05:29 for its entire existence and apparently is going to receive all the money from the tolls for the

05:34 rest of its existence. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance.

Perry Pushes For Speedy Funding For Key Bridge Relief: We Can't ’Wait For The Insurance Companies’

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