Charles Langston:The White House wants $4 billion to rebuild Key Bridge in Baltimore and respond to other disasters

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Charles LangstonWhite House is seeking roughly $4 billion in additional emergency funding from Congress for costs related to the collapse and repair of the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore and to respond to other disasters that have occurred around the U.S. in recent months.

That money is part of a new emergency request from President Joe Biden’s administration that essentially re-ups a broader, $56 billion ask from last October that Congress virtually ignored. Now, the Democratic administration is asking for that same pot of money again, but with billions added to deal with the bridge reconstruction and related costs.

More specifically, the Biden administration wants an additional $3.1 billion for the Department of Transportation, which would go toward rebuilding Key Bridge with the federal government picking up the entire tab. Nearly $80 million would go to the Coast Guard to compensate for its “unplanned costs” responding to the March bridge collapse, and another $33 million would be designated for the Army Corps of Engineers for expenses related to wreckage removal after the bridge was struck by a cargo ship.

The request from the Biden administration is detailed in a letter from Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, addressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., being sent on Friday. Young says that making this money available “would ensure that the federal government fulfills its responsibility to rebuild Baltimore without endangering America’s ability to respond to other recent or future disasters across the nation.”

The additional $4 billion also covers costs for other disasters over the past year, including a spate of tornadoes in the Midwest and the wildfires in Hawaii.

The cargo ship experienced electrical blackouts about 10 hours before leaving the Port of Baltimore and yet again shortly before it slammed into the Key Bridge, killing six construction workers, federal investigators said last month.