Editorial: Congressman's bridge comments embarrass Pennsylvania

There are few things that really unite Pennsylvania.

It’s a state that is both Democrat and Republican. It is rural and urban, chipped ham and cheesesteaks. It is Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and everything in between. If you can imagine an election in which Pennsylvania goes overwhelmingly in one direction or another rather than hewing close to the middle, you haven’t paid attention.

But what we do understand is disaster. We know the pain of loss and the magic of pulling together. Everyone was on one team when United 93 crashed in 2001 and during the Quecreek mine disaster in 2002. Philadelphia was Pittsburgh Strong after the synagogue shooting in 2018.

Pittsburgh and Philly both could look toward nearby Baltimore with sympathy after the Francis Scott Key Bridge was struck by a cargo ship Tuesday and crumbled into the Patapsco River.

Pittsburgh just received the National Transportation Safety Board report about the 2022 Fern Hollow Bridge collapse last week. It took less than a year to reopen. Philadelphia should see reconstruction of the Interstate 95 bridge that collapsed in June completed this year.

Both projects were powered by the investment of the federal government. Pittsburgh’s was important to transportation in the city. I-95 is arguably the most critical artery on the Eastern Seaboard. The millions of dollars to fix them were about traffic on a large scale.

The Key Bridge impact is exponentially larger. The Baltimore port is a major shipping hub. It is critical to things like cars coming in and coal going out. The cost is estimated at $2 billion, but that may be nothing compared to the impact of a shuttered port and a missing bridge. President Joe Biden pledged the same kind of response Pittsburgh and Philadelphia received.

And, shockingly, a Pennsylvania congressman spoke out against it. U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pottsville, called the idea “outrageous.” He advocated tapping insurance money and pursuing the owners of the Singapore-based ship for the money.

If the cargo ship’s owner or insurer can be pressured to pay a portion — or all — of the cost of the bridge’s replacement, that should absolutely happen. But it doesn’t mean the nation’s economy should be left floundering until that happens — or until the responsible party declares bankruptcy. It’s ludicrous, like waiting on the side of the road for a check from your insurance company before having your car towed.

While keeping politics out of a major news event is almost impossible, Meuser should be ashamed of himself for this. His own website boasts a March 21 press release trumpeting $2.7 million for repair of a deteriorating one-lane bridge in New Milford, a Susquehanna County borough with a population of just 812. The Baltimore port employs 10 times that many people.

But even if he believed most people would never see that release, as a Pennsylvania congressman he has to realize he is from a state that had two bridge collapses in 18 months. Those were major events that focused a spotlight on the state’s bridges and no doubt contributed to the money he was able to tout to his own constituents.

It is embarrassing for Meuser to condemn the same federal help being pledged to Baltimore that was extended to Pennsylvania.