House Freedom Caucus outlines requirements for considering Baltimore bridge funding

The House Freedom Caucus has laid out a series of demands for considering funding to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, as Congress awaits a supplemental request from the Biden administration. The conservative group is insisting that any funding for the bridge reconstruction must be fully offset and is calling on the Biden administration to lift its pause on approvals for natural gas export projects before discussing a supplemental for the bridge.

The Freedom Caucus, made up of roughly three dozen hard-line conservatives, is also asking for maximum liability from foreign shipping companies upfront and for the Baltimore port to use already available federal funds before Congress considers any supplemental funding for the bridge.

President Biden had previously stated that the federal government would cover the entire cost of reconstructing the bridge, with the administration estimating the cost to be around $2 billion. However, some conservatives have raised concerns about the deficit and argued that the company owning the cargo ship that struck the bridge should bear the cost of the reconstruction.

The Freedom Caucus is also demanding that regulations be waived to avoid delays and unnecessary costs, and that the funding bill remains focused solely on physical structure repairs with a federal nexus, without including unrelated projects. It remains to be seen when Congress will begin considering the funding for the bridge reconstruction, as the House and Senate have other pressing priorities in the coming weeks.