At Baltimore Key Bridge, Biden pledges federal support ‘until the cement has dried’

President Joe Biden reiterated in Baltimore Friday that the federal government will provide total assistance to the city as it cleans up and rebuilds the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The president’s trip on Friday comes less than two weeks after the March 26 collapse and roughly a month after he visited East Palestine, Ohio, the site of the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment. The Biden White House was heavily criticized for waiting an entire year before traveling to East Palestine, where residents and local officials are still grappling with the economic and potential health fallout of the Norfolk Southern accident.

The president opened his remarks Friday by noting that his father was born and raised in Baltimore before detailing his own relationship with grief to the families of the gathered victims.

“I’m here to say your nation has your back and I mean it. Your nation has your back,” he stated. “The damage is devastating. and our hearts are still breaking.”