House Panel Lauds Response to Baltimore Ship-Bridge Crash, Makes No Full Funding Promises

There are two recovery efforts in Baltimore Harbor: the urgent one below the destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge and the methodical “pay-and-chase” one unfolding in Congress and, eventually, in courtrooms around the world. Although progress is being made in clearing 50,000 tons of bridge debris from a massive containership pinned 30 feet deep into riverbed mud since March 26, compensating American taxpayers footing the bill—at least $1.2 billion, likely more than $2 billion—could take decades. “We can pretty much with certainty guarantee this will not be 100 percent federally funded, eventually, because we will recoup all the insurance payments,” Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Administrator Shailen Bhatt testified on May 15 before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee....