Remarks by President Biden on Rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge and Reopening the Port of Baltimore | Baltimore, MD | April 5, 2024

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause.) Please, please. Thank you.

By the way, folks, I say to my dad: Dad, they’re mispronouncing Baltimore. (Pronounced in an accent.) (Laughter.) My dad and the Biden — please, sit down — the Biden family goes all the way back to being watermen in this bay for a long, long time back in the la- — mid-1800s.

I immediately disbelieve him.

… Governor Moore, Senator Cardin, Senator Van Hollen, Congress[man] Mfume, Mayor Scott, County Executive Johnny O. — (laughter) — I like that — Johnny “O-ho-ho” — (laughter) —

… And you’ve got, without exaggeration, one of the finest delegations in the Congress of any state in the Union. And they know how to get things done, and we’re going to get this paid for. Aren’t we?

PARTICIPANTS: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: All right.

… It’s not the same, but I know a little bit about what it’s like to lose a piece of your soul — to get that phone call in the middle of the night to say family members are gone. I’ve been there. It’s feeling like having a black hole in your chest, like you’re being sucked in, unable to breath. The anger, the pain, the depth of the loss is so profound.

And we know it’s hard to believe, and you’re probably not going to believe me, but I can tell you now from personal experience …

Yay! We all came today to hear about him, and darned if it’s not all about him again!

… Within a day, we stood up a Unified Command.

… Today, my administration is announcing the first tranche of Dislocated Worker Grants — fancy phrase to — which is dimed — all of it is there to make sure it — it helps create jobs for workers involved in the cleanup of this incident — additional jobs.

But, again, how does this relate to you?

… Every day, over 30,000 vehicles traveled across this bridge, and I was one of those people. I commuted every day from Delaware for 36 years year to Washington, D.C., back and forth, and about one fourth of that time by automobile. I’ve been to every part of this port.

I don’t believe him.

… My administration is committed — absolutely committed to ensuring that the parties responsible for this tragedy pay to repair the damage and be held accountable to the fullest extent the law will allow.

… As the governor — as the governor can tell you, within hours of the American req- — the Maryland request, we approved $60 million in emergency federal funding. I fully intend — I fully intend, as the governor knows, to have the federal government cover the cost of rebuilding this entire bridge — all of it — all of it — (applause) — as we’ve done in other parts of the country in similar circumstances.

Name one.