Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) criticized President Joe Biden for promising to utilize federal funds to cover the cost of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Earlier this week, the bridge crumbled following a collision with a container ship, resulting in the deaths of at least six people. This incident has caused delays in shipping on the East Coast and led to the closure of the Port of Baltimore.
After the event, Biden vowed to do everything possible to ensure the bridge was reconstructed. He suggested that the federal government should fund the rebuilding and called on Congress to approve the necessary funds.
Meuser, a member of the House Financial Services and Small Business Committee, appeared on an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Thursday morning to express his disapproval of the president's comments.
The Republican lawmaker suggested that the government of Singapore, where the shipping container was registered, may be responsible for the damages.
It was kind of outrageous immediately for Biden to express in this tragedy the idea that he’s going to use federal funds to pay for it in entirety. I mean, you know, he doesn’t refer to it as the American taxpayer dollars, anything. You know, the first reaction, in fact, the only reaction just tends to be to spend. Look, this was a this was a tragedy. We all saw it. People, people lost their lives. And it is a very important point. As you just mentioned a little while ago, a lot of Pennsylvania’s coal is shipped out of that 25%. Automobiles, natural gas. So it needs to be corrected.
But, you know, this is a Singapore flagship, number one. So what responsibility are they going to have? At least Janet Yellen is thinking a little bit out of the box rather than just spend the taxpayers’ money and see what insurance and funding that would be. And we got to get on that.
We just can’t take the easy route all the time and just try to spend the taxpayers’ money. And something else I’ll add on that T&E bill last year there was $400 billion in excess. I mean, that’s why I didn’t vote for it. You know, 900 billion was one thing, 1.25 was another 350 billion extra. And Maryland, by the way, got almost $5 billion in addition to its standard TNI funding. So, you know, they’ve got the money.
Watch the clip above via Fox Business.
