Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., told Newsmax on Wednesday that the first priority in the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore is recovering the victims who are still missing. The second priority, however, is figuring out how to "cut through the red tape" and get the bridge rebuilt.
"The first thing we have to do is we have to recover the victims," Harris said during an appearance on "Wake Up America." "But, soon after we recover the victims, we have to plan on how we're going to get the Port of Baltimore open and then, in the long term, how we're going to rebuild the bridge. The port is very important to the local economy. We have 15,000 workers who work at the port; it's millions of dollars a day we lose, plus all the supply chain interruption that we're having."
"So again, we've got to move forward," he continued. "We recover the victims, get the port back open and then what we have to do is we have to deal with the federal regulations that would make this a very difficult rebuilding job and a very lengthy rebuilding job. We have to cut through the red tape and just get it done."
When asked if he expects President Joe Biden to visit the site in the coming days, as he pledged to, Harris said "it's not important" whether or not he "comes to the site."
"What's important is the president goes before Congress and says we have to cut the regulatory burden, the red tape to get this project done because, the fact of the matter is, when you put in project labor agreements, you put in environmental regulations, you put in all these standards, this could stretch out for years," he said. "The president has to call immediately to reduce the regulatory burden in this project to get that important pathway open because that's the only way that hazardous materials can come down the I-95 corridor without long detours. So, it's actually a very important bridge to get reopened."
Harris said he doesn't know if the money in recent infrastructure bills is being allocated properly "because the Department of Transportation, under Secretary [Pete Buttigieg, apparently has different criteria for what a road should be like."
"Maybe they determined that this was a racist highway and will slow the reconstruction," he said. "I don't know with this administration. They've got to cut through the red tape. They've got to make the commitment that, regardless of, again, all the federal regulatory burdens, we're going to get this bridge rebuilt as soon as we can. Of course, before that, we have to reopen the port. We have to dredge that channel, get the debris out, and reopen the port.
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Nicole Wells ✉
Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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