President Biden vowed Tuesday to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge after it collapsed into the water when a cargo ship rammed into it, echoing what some Maryland officials said earlier but adding that he expects the federal government to foot the bill.

“It’s my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect the Congress to support my effort,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “This is going to take some time, but the people of Baltimore can count on us though to stick with them at every step of the way until the port is reopen and the bridge is rebuilt.”

He said he spoke with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) on Tuesday morning, as well as Maryland officials including its congressional delegation and two U.S. senators. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg traveled to the Baltimore site.

      • ikidd@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Well, axchually… toll roads and bridges are a thing. Even if they’re built by a gov’t that recoups its’ costs, I’d say that counts as a user-pay situation.

        • Furbag@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          A toll is a kind of tax. There’s a one-time tax to build the bridge, and then a per-use tax to maintain it.

    • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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      9 months ago

      Is this satire?

      If not, do you want to wait 20 years until the lawsuits against the shipping companies (yes, plural) are all done and appeals finished before you can extract a few million to cover part of the multiple hundred millions a rebuild will cost?

      Infrastructure is too important.

    • SmilingSolaris@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I get ya man, corporations steal constantly and when they break stuff we pay for it. The corpos won’t pay their fuckin taxes and then break shit.