{"id":2212471,"date":"2024-04-03T17:40:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T21:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cole-advises-biden-administration-to-take-its-time-on-funding-request-for-baltimore-bridge-collapse\/"},"modified":"2024-04-03T17:40:24","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T21:40:24","slug":"cole-advises-biden-administration-to-take-its-time-on-funding-request-for-baltimore-bridge-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cole-advises-biden-administration-to-take-its-time-on-funding-request-for-baltimore-bridge-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"Cole recommends that the Biden administration proceed cautiously with the funding request for the Baltimore bridge collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcole-advises-biden-administration-to-take-its-time-on-funding-request-for-baltimore-bridge-collapse%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2212471&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>House Rules Committee Chairman Tom \u2064Cole (R-OK) urged caution from the Biden administration and Maryland officials when deliberating on the amount of federal aid needed following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore. Cole emphasized ensuring that the funds requested are adequate to address the crisis \u200ceffectively, drawing\u200d parallels to \u200cprevious disaster funding\u2062 processes such as\u2062 Hurricane Sandy.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>EXCLUSIVE<\/strong> \u2014 House Rules Committee Chairman <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tom-cole\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Tom Cole<\/a> (R-OK) advised the <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/biden-administration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Biden administration<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/maryland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Maryland<\/a> officials to \u201ctake their time\u201d while considering how much federal aid to ask for in the wake of the collapse of the <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/francis-scott-key-bridge\/\" title>Francis Scott Key Bridge<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Cole said in an interview with the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> on Wednesday that \u201caid is flowing\u201d to <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/baltimore\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Baltimore<\/a> after the bridge collapse, including debris removal funds that have already been approved by the <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/department-of-transportation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Transportation Department<\/a>. He also said emergency repair money will be available as soon as a figure is determined.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut the point is, the funds are there so that nothing should be delayed in dealing with his tragedy,\u201d the congressman said. \u201cAfter that, you know, we\u2019re waiting, obviously, for the administration to present a request. And my advice to them and honestly, people in Maryland, was \u2018take your time.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have the money to deal with the immediate problem,\u201d Cole added. \u201cThe danger in a situation like this is you\u2019ll always underestimate and ask for too little, and not think through what the full scope of the crisis is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration announced $60 million in \u201cquick release\u201d emergency relief funds after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/infrastructure\/2943680\/maryland-gov-wes-moore-submits-first-bill-for-baltimore-bridge-cleanup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>receiving a request<\/a> from Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD). President Joe Biden, who is scheduled to visit Baltimore on Friday, is likely to request additional funding for the bridge\u2019s repair from Congress, which Cole said will be discussed and approved in a bipartisan fashion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re gonna sit down and work with our colleagues,\u201d Cole said. \u201cWe recognize this is a federal disaster \u2014 it\u2019s a national disaster, it has a federal component, and we\u2019re going to work with people and try and get right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cole related the federal response to one similar to the destruction left by Hurricane Sandy, in which it took Congress around 90 days to approve funding. The Oklahoma Republican also drew on his own experience dealing with disasters and catastrophic events, such as the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 when he was a liaison with the federal government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know a lot of dealing with disasters from both ends of this: from the state end as a state official, and from the federal end as somebody that has to think through how and what to fund,\u201d Cole said.<\/p>\n<p>Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have expressed their opinions as to what level of involvement the federal government should have in addressing the bridge collapse.<\/p>\n<p>Some House Republicans have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/2945725\/congress-weighs-federal-dollars-baltimore-bridge-collapse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>already come out<\/a> against the idea of a federal aid bill. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) was quick to blast Biden\u2019s initial pledge for the federal government to be responsible for the reconstruction, saying that the only reaction \u201ctends to be to spend.\u201d He also indicated that Singapore, where the cargo ship that caused the collapse is registered, should provide funds.<\/p>\n<p>Maryland Democrats and Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) have come out in support of the Biden administration approving emergency federal funds for the collapse, with some rebuking Meuser\u2019s comments as \u201cshort-sighted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy claiming that these federal resources are nothing more than an unnecessary political favor, those who oppose this funding once again reveal how they are actively rooting against America\u2019s economic success,\u201d Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) previously told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cInstead, they ought to work with us to ensure American families don\u2019t have to contend with rising prices from supply-chain disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are several avenues that lawmakers can take, Cole said. Funds that have been appropriated can be used to address the disaster, but that also would be \u201ctaking them away from someplace else.\u201d Another option can be a classic disaster response using obligated funds and essentially \u201cwriting the check,\u201d which he said is not unusual, as it\u2019s been done for several disasters in the past.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of what method is used to create a funding bill, Cole is optimistic that an aid vote on the House floor will receive bipartisan support. He said he supports moving funds around in a \u201cfiscally responsible way\u201d if necessary but does not support using the aid legislation as a political tool.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSandy was controversial just for some people, but what we got done what we need to do there,\u201d Cole said. \u201cWe\u2019ll do the same thing here.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the end of the day, the important thing is to make sure the work gets done, it gets done in a timely fashion, and nobody uses a disaster as a weapon against somebody else,\u201d the congressman added.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) exclusively advised the Biden administration and Maryland officials to deliberate carefully on the federal aid amount for the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Cole emphasized the importance of judicious decision-making when determining the necessary assistance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2648,"featured_media":2212472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24016801631564-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2212471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24016801631564-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2648"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2212471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2212472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2212471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2212471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2212471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}