Political Quotes

“Madam President, on Tuesday morning, March 26, I received a phone call early in the morning informing me of a major tragedy in our community. The Francis Scott Key Bridge is a vital link on the I-95 corridor. It is a bridge that is about a mile and a half long. It goes across the channel that is for the Port of Baltimore, and it is incredibly important to our local economy and to our image. It is iconic to Baltimore. I was shocked to see the image. There was a video that showed that this bridge--a mile and a half long--came down in a matter of seconds. It was hit by a vessel, the Dali. That is a container vessel. It is about the size of the Eiffel Tower, a little less than a thousand feet long, fully contained with containers. Over several thousand were on the Dali at the time. It lost power, and, when you lose power on this type of vessel, you cannot steer. It hit the main support beam of the suspension bridge, and it collapsed almost immediately. Within a minute, it was down. It was just a tragic sight to see. When we saw this sight, we recognized that there was loss of life. That was our first concern, as to how many people were trapped on that bridge and how many people were at risk of losing their lives. I want to tell you that there was an immediate Federal response. I am going to show you a picture of what we saw on the morning when we woke up. You saw the bridge before. This is the bridge that came down in a matter of a minute, less than a minute.…”