Regional News
Lawmakers, families, advocates challenge handling of COVID in federal prisons
WASHINGTON – Michael Carvajal seemed optimistic as he highlighted the steps the Federal Bureau of Prisons has taken to protect inmates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The bureau was one of the first agencies to offer COVID testing and vaccinations.… Approximately 80% of our staff and 70% of our inmates have been fully vaccinated and we continue to increase those rates,” Carvajal, the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, told a Feb. 3 House Judiciary Committee hearing.
“The bureau has transferred more than 37,000 inmates to community custody, after review of medically vulnerable inmates based on assessments,” he added.
But lawmakers and other critics insist that federal prison inmates were less protected from COVID-19 than the general public, more died than has been made public, and incarcerated people remain exposed to greater health risks than the prisons bureau will acknowledge.
“There’ve been at least 300 people who have died while in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons,” Corene Kendrick, deputy director of the ACLU National Prison Project, told Capital News Service. “Incarcerated people, generally, are three times more likely to die of COVID-19 than people in the general population.”
According to the prison bureau’s COVID website, 4,672 federal inmates and 1,990 BOP staff have confirmed positive test results for the virus nationwide. The website said 285 inmates and seven staff members have died from COVID so far.
Of the 285 inmate deaths, 11 occurred while on home confinement, according to the bureau. The inmate totals listed do not include inmates participating in the Federal Location Monitoring program, inmates supervised under the United States Probation Office, or those being held in privately-managed prisons or state facilities or jails.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, asked Carvajal during the congressional hearing what to do about preventing deaths in federal prisons.
“We have been in lockstep with the CDC from day one,” Carvajal said. “That is why we appreciate the ability under the CARES Act to transfer people out. We were able to lower our population. We are following CDC guidance. We do everything in collaboration with them.”
While data on the medical isolation rate, facility vaccination rate, and community transmission rate are all available on the prison bureau’s website, advocates, including Kendrick and Joshua Manson, a researcher with the UCLA Law COVID Behind Bars data project, argue that most of the information on how many people have been infected with, or died of, the virus is inaccurate.
“They’re not being fully transparent,” Manson told Capital News Service. “They’re sort of just asking the public to trust them when they’ve really given the public no reason to trust them. There have been enormous numbers of people who’ve been infected in the Bureau of Prisons’ custody…but we know that the actual number is considerably higher than that.”
When asked about criticisms of its data and policies, a prison bureau spokesperson referred CNS to the agency’s website.
Carvajal, a Trump administration appointee, announced his resignation in January. He is staying on until he is replaced.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, has been a vocal critic of Carvajal’s tenure.
“For years, the Bureau of Prisons has been plagued by corruption, chronic understaffing, and mismanagement,” the senator said in January. “In the nearly two years since Director Carvajal was handpicked by then-Attorney General Bill Barr, he has failed to address the mounting crises in our nation’s federal prison system, including failing to fully implement the landmark First Step Act.
His resignation is an opportunity for new, reform-minded leadership at the Bureau of Prisons.”
In April 2021, Durbin noted that “at times, the infection rate for the federal prison population has been nearly six times higher than in the community at large. At that time, he said, 230 inmates had died of COVID – “nearly all of whom had preexisting conditions that made them particularly and obviously vulnerable.”
“Several were within months of being released,” Durbin said. “And 55 died after their request for compassionate release was denied or while their request was pending.”
Durbin and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have introduced legislation aimed at ensuring that the most vulnerable inmates, particularly older prisoners, can be eligible for compassionate release or moved to home confinement to complete their sentences.
“In the middle of a pandemic the federal government ought to be doing everything it can to protect the inmates in its care,” Grassley said.
Both Manson and Kendrick spotlighted what they said were inconsistencies in cumulative COVID-19 case numbers in the prison bureau’s records.
“One of the things that they do is the cumulative counts of COVID-19 infections sometimes goes down…BOP officials finally admitted that what they were doing was as people were getting discharged from BOP custody, they would then remove that person from the total count of infected people,” Kendrick said.
Additionally, Manson urged caution on trusting the prison bureau’s numbers on vaccinated individuals inside correctional facilities.
Manson said the bureau’s website has a category for “fully vaccinated” inmates, but that website does note that the numbers reported don’t include the number of people who have been given a booster.”
“Now, I don’t really think that you can call someone fully inoculated right now if they haven’t received the booster,” he said.
The prisons bureau also is not doing enough to ensure that its own employees are properly masked and vaccinated, according to critics and inmates’ family members.
Prison bureau employees who are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated are required to comply with CDC and agency guidance, including, according to the agency, “wearing masks regardless of the transmission rate in a given area, physical distancing, regular testing and adhering to applicable travel restrictions.”
UCLA’s Behind Bars Prison Project also noted a dramatic uptick in the presence of COVID infections in December and January with the Omicron surge. For the first time, more than 10,000 active COVID cases were reported in January among the 150,000 inmates in the prison bureau’s 120 facilities, the project said.
The UCLA project also gives the Federal Bureau of Prisons an “F” for its data collection methods.
Neela, who asked that her last name not be used in order to protect the identity of her husband, who is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution El Reno in Oklahoma, told CNS prison guards were one of the reasons the virus spread and returned in that facility.
“I don’t think they’re doing their part as far as the guards are concerned because we don’t have contact visits right now, it’s all through like a plexiglass,” she said. “The only way these people are getting COVID is through guards.”
“And I’ve gotten in there and I’ve seen a guard could care less about COVID,” Neela said. “I don’t know how many guards are coming into work and have COVID. But I know every time I go, they’re not wearing their masks. Is that the reason? I don’t know. But, I don’t think that’s helping the situation.”
Kendrick said advocates have also been pushing for less overcrowding and better hygiene practices. She said cleanliness is not often given priority inside federal facilities.
“You’re having them sit in cells for two to four days at a time and then allowing them 20 minutes to call their loved ones, take a shower, and get on the email, do whatever, and of course, the priority for these guys is talking to their loved ones because they’re concerned,” Neela said.
“So now you’re cutting their time to clean themselves, and then you’re not giving them the necessary tools to do that,” she said. “I mean, how do you expect people not to get sick if you’re not giving them soap or hand sanitizer?”
Vaccine education has also been put on the back burner inside prisons, according to Neela. She revealed that people jailed at El Reno were encouraged to take vaccinations by offering an optimistic picture of what the facility would look like after the majority of the population was vaccinated.
“…They were kind of bribing the inmates, they weren’t really educating them on why. They just told them, ‘if we can get a facility to 98%, then we can go back to everything being open, not having constant lockdown’ and things of that nature,” she said. “I do have friends that have loved ones at other facilities, and I’ve heard the opposite. So I do think it depends on the facility, who’s running the facility.”
The Prison Policy Initiative has been one of the organizations pushing for more vaccine education inside federal prisons, such as bringing in family members and community leaders.
“If you consider that incarcerated people have a long history of insufficient medical treatment and even medical neglect and abuse at the hands of the very same people who are not trying to vaccinate them, you can understand why it’s important to bring in people…to help convince them to take the vaccine,” said Wanda Bertram, a communications strategist for the Prison Policy Initiative.
Bertram also suggested that compassionate release and home confinement during the pandemic will help slow the spread of COVID-19.
“A woman wrote in to our website yesterday and told us that her husband was supposed to be released to home confinement, and checked off the boxes that the (prison bureau) had laid out for people to be released to home confinement,” Bertram said. “But, he was not actually released under that program, and he got sent to a halfway house and the halfway house is full of COVID.”
The Justice Department in December gave the Federal Bureau of Prisons the discretion to allow formerly incarcerated individuals to remain in home confinement even as the pandemic eases. The action reverses a Trump administration policy that directed the bureau to return those who were allowed to remain in home confinement to correctional facilities if they still had time to serve.
By CHRIS BARYLICK and MARGARET ATTRIDGE
Capital News Service
Regional News
RideSmart Introduces New Commuter Bus Service from Waterloo Park and Ride Lot
RideSmart is thrilled to announce the launch of an exciting new commuter bus service starting Monday, May 13, 2024. This service will operate Monday through Friday, offering convenient transportation from the Waterloo Park and Ride lot at 1812 John Mosby Hwy, Winchester, VA, to Rosslyn, VA, and Washington, DC.
Commuters in the region can now enjoy a stress-free journey to their destinations, thanks to RideSmart’s comfortable and eco-friendly buses. With spacious seating, onboard amenities, and complimentary Wi-Fi, passengers can maximize their travel time while feeling proud of their contribution to the environment by reducing their carbon footprint.
To celebrate the inauguration of this new service, RideSmart warmly invites you to a ribbon-cutting event on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, at 5:15 p.m. This event, held at the Waterloo Park and Ride lot, will feature remarks from local officials, RideSmart representatives, and, most importantly, community members. Your presence is highly valued, and we look forward to celebrating this milestone with you.
“We’re excited to introduce our new commuter bus service, providing residents with a convenient and sustainable transportation option,” said Becky Sandretzky, Commuter Assistance Program Coordinator at RideSmart. “We look forward to serving the community and beyond, helping commuters reach their destinations efficiently and comfortably.”
Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of the RideSmart journey! Let’s roll into a better commute!
Regional News
Baltimore Port closure creates uncertainty for businesses
Before the bridge’s collapse, Johnson wasn’t aware that the Port of Baltimore was a main hub for plywood. He worries how this may affect his furnishing business but also how the port’s closure may impact Baltimore’s small business economy.
Su Casa Furniture owner Nicholas Johnson is concerned that plywood, a main import of the Port of Baltimore, might become scarce during an extended closure of the port. (Emily Condon/Capital News Service)
“My bigger concern is for how the ‘temporary’ adjustments to logistics may stick and become permanent,” Johnson, 39, said in an email. “Because of the timeframe for complete recovery, it is conceivable that many businesses that make arrangements to utilize NY, Philly, Norfolk, Wilmington, and Richmond in the short term may stick with it.”
Many other Baltimore businesses share his concerns. The March 26 collapse of the Key Bridge left six dead and left much of Baltimore’s port blocked for imports and exports. Some 51,000 people rely on the port, either directly or indirectly, for their jobs. Because of this threat to the economy, Governor Wes Moore has approved $60 million in temporary assistance to workers and businesses.
Some high-profile companies immediately shifted gears: first, Royal Caribbean International moved its Vision of the Seas ship to sail from the port in Norfolk, Virginia. Then, CSX Corp., a major freight rail company, decided to add a new train route to bring supplies from Baltimore to New York. The U.S. Small Business Administration said more than 1,000 businesses in the Baltimore area have applied for emergency loans following the bridge collapse.
For trucking companies based in the city, the port closure resulted in major shifts in their operations and forced some drivers out of work. Universal Intermodal Services Inc.’s Dundalk location currently has at least 12 truckers out of work, according to fleet manager RJ Martin.
“It’s really screwed up the trucking market in this whole area as guys are no longer working in this area,” Martin said. “They’re having to go somewhere else or just be out of work and try and collect unemployment – which not everyone will be approved for.”
Martin is hopeful that once the Baltimore channel is cleared and the port reopens, operations for Baltimore shipping companies will return to normal. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it hopes to have the Port of Baltimore partially reopened by the end of April and fully open by May.
Other businesses don’t face such a severe economic impact, but they consider the loss of the Key Bridge as an important symbolic moment for the community. For Brandy Teresi, 48, co-owner of Robbie’s Bar and Grill in Sparrows Point, the Key Bridge was “a part of your identity and who you are as an individual, which is weird because it’s just a bridge.”
The only small immediate impact for Robbie’s Bar and Grill has been rerouted deliveries. One quirk: the supplier of the bar’s CO2 tanks, which pump the beer taps and soda machines, needs to go around the city because regulations don’t permit the tanks in the Harbor Tunnel on Interstate 895, Teresi said.
Other businesses across the city are still navigating the uncertainty that comes with the collapse. Canton-based Mama’s on the Half Shell has not experienced any direct economic impacts. Still, some customers from Anne Arundel County have a longer drive to the restaurant, said Maurico Guevara, a veteran employee at Mama’s. The restaurant planned to hold a fundraiser on April 10 and donate a portion of their profits to victims of the collapse, he said.
Megan Gardner, marketing director for the restaurant group that owns Mama’s, doesn’t predict any problems with food shipments since they obtain their food from local suppliers. The biggest impact is emotional.
Regional News
The IRS is Testing a Free Method to Directly File Taxes. But Not Everyone is Thrilled
WASHINGTON — Many U.S. taxpayers in a dozen states for the first time can electronically file their federal returns directly to the Internal Revenue Service for free — but critics insist the new federal benefit is not needed and will even harm both users and states.
More than 50,000 taxpayers in Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming have so far used the new online IRS Direct File program this tax season, according to the agency.
The free alternative to potentially costly private tax filing software rolled out in mid-March for the 2023 filing season. It is only available for those with W-2 income or simple credits and deductions, like the child tax credit or student loan interest.
The IRS estimates that 19 million taxpayers are eligible to use the new program in advance of the April 15 tax filing deadline.
But opponents argue the government Direct File program is a waste of resources and will snag business from professional tax preparers. They say it will confuse taxpayers who are accustomed to automatically filing their federal and state returns together through private software.
Some states also claim it will cost them revenue and increase what they have to spend on collections from taxpayers who owe money to their states.
The IRS program is purposefully small for now. The agency said in a launch-day release that it’s following “best practices for launching a new technology platform by starting small, making sure it works and then building from there.”
The pilot program “is almost tailor-made for students and young people with simple tax situations,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in late March, encouraging people to visit the new directfile.irs.gov.
The White House is celebrating the launch as a win for President Joe Biden, who in 2022 along with a Democratic-led Congress authorized its funding to jumpstart the program as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
The progressive Economic Security Project estimates that if the program scales up, it could eventually save the average taxpayer up to $160 annually in tax prep costs. Assuming broad public adoption, that could add up to Americans saving $11 billion a year in filing fees and time.
The organization also estimates low-income households could gain up to $12 billion in unclaimed federal tax credits, and that the IRS would see a return on investment of more than $100 per federal dollar spent on the program due to less paperwork and fewer errors.
Roxy Caines, director of the Get It Back campaign, said Direct File could increase tax participation, particularly for low-income households.
“Having an accessible way to file taxes is really important because of the high cost of tax preparation as well as the arduous process. It’s often viewed as intimidating,” said Caines, who runs the financial literacy and tax credit advocacy campaign by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
‘Unnecessary and unconstitutional’
But not everyone is on board.
When Werfel appeared in February before the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, Republican Chair Jason Smith of Missouri described the program as a “scheme the American people didn’t ask for.”
In January, 13 Republican attorneys general sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen opposing “the unnecessary and unconstitutional efforts to empower the Internal Revenue Service with the expansive authority to prepare and file tax returns for all taxpayers.”
“American taxpayers do not want to invite the proverbial fox into the hen house,” wrote the officials, led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.
Attorneys general from Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia co-signed it.
The officials wrote that a program for taxpayers to directly file with the IRS at no cost “needlessly threatens” the livelihoods of tax preparers.
“Every year, tens of millions of taxpayers file their taxes for free with help from existing programs or online software. Additionally, millions of Americans work with small businesses in our states to file their taxes at an affordable cost, including both independent tax preparation services and local accountants. They choose to do so because they want an advocate in their corner who will represent their interests against the IRS bureaucracy,” they wrote.
The IRS did not respond to a request for comment about the criticism.
Pete Sepp, president of the National Taxpayers Union, a fiscally conservative organization that advocates for simplifying the tax code, told States Newsroom the project has been “dramatically oversold” and is being piloted in “some very easy places,” including states that don’t collect their own income tax.
Money for the IRS would be better spent on improving customer service, he argues.
“Every single penny they can scrounge up from other places needs to be poured into that effort, right? Now, in our opinion, designing a portal for direct file that is underpowered and is competing with other services is just not a priority,” he said, referring to the 22-year “Free File” arrangement the IRS has had with select private companies.
So what about Free File?
Today, the vast majority of taxpayers file electronically, according to IRS data. Of the 160 million individual federal tax returns that the IRS processed in 2022, 150.6 million, or 94%, were e-filed. Of those, just under 3.3 million used what’s been criticized as an opaque and complicated electronic Free File program.
Free File dates back to the early 2000s, when the idea of e-filing was just budding, and the government had no such program in place.
President George W. Bush’s administration was exploring the possibility of a free direct file portal through the IRS website.
At the time the agency was struggling after failed modernization efforts, and a public-private partnership with the burgeoning tax preparation software companies became an appealing option.
“The tax companies just said, ‘Well, we got a deal for you,’” recalls Nina Olson, who served as the National Taxpayer Advocate for the IRS from 2001 to 2019.
“And at that time, I was very suspect of the deal. I said at the time that they’re going to find themselves in 20 years, that you know, tax companies would pull out and you would have a patchwork of services available to people,” Olson, who now runs the nonprofit Center for Taxpayer Rights, said in an interview with States Newsroom.
What began in 2002 was an agreement between the IRS and a group of private tax prep software companies, under the name Free File Alliance, to offer free federal tax returns to those under a certain income threshold. In 2023, that annual earnings threshold was $79,000 or less.
Taxpayers who earn above that income threshold have the option to complete their federal returns for free, unguided, using fillable PDF tax forms.
The just over two-decade-old program has been scrutinized for not reaching the taxpayers who most need a free filing option and for not providing a better user experience.
A 2019 Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report described the program as “fraught with complexity and confusion.”
The inspector general found that in 2018 only 2.5 million of the 104 million taxpayers eligible for Free File actually used it.
About 34.5 million of those Free File-eligible taxpayers used one of the alliance companies’ commercial software options, and a likely 14 million of them paid to e-file their federal returns, the report found.
The low number of Free File users likely was because an estimated 9 million eligible taxpayers were unaware that they had to access the Free File software options via the IRS website.
Those who, for example, searched the web and found one of the IRS partner companies’ websites were “not guaranteed a free return filing,” and subsequently susceptible to advertising for potentially costly add-ons like “audit defense,” the report found.
Investigative reporting in 2019 by ProPublica revealed deliberate tactics to cloud the Free File program by Intuit, maker of TurboTax, one of the Free File Alliance’s largest partners.
Terms between the IRS and Free File Alliance initially included a commitment from the agency to not develop its own free online filing program. In exchange, the partner companies agreed to limit advertising and add-on solicitation on their free file web pages.
In 2019 the IRS dropped the prohibition on developing its own program. Limits on company marketing and solicitation for add-on products continued as part of the agreement — though Intuit would eventually have to pay for breaking its commitment.
H&R Block and Intuit respectively left the Free File Alliance in 2020 and 2021. Together they served about 70% of eligible Free File taxpayers in 2019, according to a 2022 Government Accountability Office report that recommended the IRS develop additional options for taxpayers to file for free.
Acknowledging the opposing viewpoints on whether the IRS should create, or could handle, its own program, the report concluded the agency “should work to manage the risk of taxpayers having fewer options to electronically file their federal taxes for free.”
In 2022, Intuit settled with attorneys general from across the U.S., agreeing to pay $141 million to Intuit TurboTax customers who ended up buying services that should have been free to them.
Today there are eight companies in the Free File Alliance, with differing income and tax situation criteria. All are listed on the IRS website.
Olson said she doesn’t view the IRS Direct File pilot as a competitor to the already existing Free File partnership. Rather, it’s “one more component of a robust tax online taxpayer account,” she said.
“This is what countries do around the world. We’re so far behind,” Olson said. “There’s a response to folks who say ‘The government doesn’t need to do this’ or ‘There’s no interest in this product.’ Regardless of whether there’s interest in the product, it’s a government obligation.”
Congressional mandate
Among the tens of billions of dollars Congress authorized for the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act, $15 million was earmarked for exploring the possibility of an IRS-run direct federal tax filing system.
Specifically Congress mandated the agency to use the money to survey taxpayers’ wants and needs, obtain a third-party opinion, and report back to lawmakers on the costs to create and run such a program.
In its third-party review, the left-leaning think tank New America assessed that a successful IRS-run Direct File program “depends critically” on whether the agency prioritizes the project and begins with limited testing before building up.
The organization estimated that development, staffing, infrastructure and customer service for a scaled-up platform would cost the IRS annually anywhere from $22 million to $47 million if 1 million taxpayers use a Direct File program, and up to $126 million to $213 million in the event that 25 million taxpayers jump on board.
New America also recommended the IRS consider the importance of customer service, data privacy and taxpayers’ habits of filing federal and state returns all on one platform — one of the main concerns from critics.
Ayushi Roy, deputy director of New America’s New Practice Lab, which led the review, told States Newsroom she’s been talking to taxpayers using the Direct File pilot and “broadly speaking, we’re finding that filers are really landing on either ‘Wow,’ or ‘it didn’t include me for now.’”
The group will conduct its own analysis of the IRS trial run, particularly focusing on the experience for Spanish-speaking filers.
As for taxpayer interest, the IRS found that 72% of survey respondents said they were “very interested” or “somewhat interested” in a free IRS-provided tool to prepare and file federal taxes.
The survey conducted in 2022 by MITRE, a nonprofit that runs federally funded research and development centers, also found that a top reason cited by 46% of those interested is that they would rather give their financial data to the IRS than to a third party.
An October 2023 report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration took issue with the design of the survey, warning that the interest level may be “overstated” because the survey did not include a “neutral” option for respondents to choose.
However, the largely Democrat- and progressive-aligned international polling firm GQR found in late January through early February that between 92% and 95% of taxpayers across political ideologies and income levels in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New York and Texas support a free online IRS filing service.
Several state governments already offer free public electronic filing for state income tax returns, including Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, which offer the service regardless of income level. Some states, like California and Iowa, have income thresholds for free filing.
States bite back
Despite the adoption of free public filing in some states, 21 state auditors, comptrollers and treasurers from 18 states sent a letter on March 25 to Yellen and Werfel expressing concern about the “serious harm” the IRS Direct File program will cause and urging them to “shut down” the service.
“Taxpayers are not the only parties who will suffer from Direct File. States will suffer too. States will lose out on payments from Direct File taxpayers who owe state taxes but incorrectly assume that Direct File covers federal and state filings.
“States will then have to increase resources dedicated to collection efforts,” wrote the officials from Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
According to the Treasury Department, taxpayers using the IRS Direct File pilot in Arizona, California, Massachusetts or New York are automatically directed to their state-supported tax filing websites. Those in Washington are sent to that state’s page to claim the Working Families Tax Credit.
The IRS could not provide a more specific figure of how many taxpayers have so far used Direct File, and its latest estimate stands at 50,000. Advocates say they expect to learn updated numbers as soon as a week after federal taxes are due on April 15.
by Ashley Murray, Virginia Mercury
Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.
Regional News
Biden Pledges to “Move Heaven and Earth” for Speedy Bridge Rebuild
BALTIMORE — President Joe Biden pledged Friday to fight for federal funding to rebuild the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, promising to “move heaven and earth” during a Friday visit to the disaster site.
President Joe Biden, standing next to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, gives remarks at the Port of Baltimore on April 5, 2024, in the aftermath of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. (Mathew J. Schumer/Capital News Service)
“We will do so with union labor and American steel,” Biden told a group of local officials and first responders gathered for his afternoon remarks at the Port of Baltimore.
That morning, Biden’s executive office had asked Congress to commit to fully cover the costs for rebuilding the bridge.
But a spokesperson for the House Republican majority declined to comment on Biden’s letter to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. In an earlier statement, House Committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Missouri, said that the committee needed to make sure they’re not “getting ahead of the facts.”
After Biden’s letter came out Friday, the conservative House Freedom Caucus issued conditions such as that some environmental and labor regulations be waived “to avoid all unnecessary delays and costs” if the federal government foots the bill.
Those signs of skepticism about the funding are raising worries among some Democrats.
“I was concerned about those remarks because they just don’t seem to meet the hour and the tragedy and the need,” Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Maryland, told Capital News Service on Friday. He said he plans to talk to Republicans about this on Monday.
Biden’s trip came almost two weeks after a cargo ship crashed into a pillar of the bridge, bringing down a giant portion of it and killing members of a construction crew who were working there at the time. Federal, state, and local officials have been scrambling since then to re-open a small channel of access to the busy Port of Baltimore and to remove the wreckage so that reconstruction can begin.
After the accident, Biden was quick to pledge full support from the federal government. His administration has granted Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s request for $60 million in immediate federal aid for emergency work. These funds serve as an “initial down payment” to help Maryland manage disruptions to traffic and supply chains as well as start reconstructing the bridge, Shailen Bhatt, federal highway administrator, said in a press release.
On Friday, Biden announced grants for dislocated workers who were impacted by the collapse. His administration would ensure that the party responsible for the accident pays for the damage, Biden said.
“Your nation has your back,” Biden said. “We are going to get this paid for.”
A spokesperson for the Senate committee, chaired by Sen. Tom Carper, D-Delaware, said that Carper is reviewing the request and speaking to his colleagues about it.
“He is committed … to supporting all federal efforts to get both the port operational and the bridge restored,” the spokesperson said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working on clearing wreckage along the Fort McHenry Channel and plans to open a one-way limited access channel in and out of the Port of Baltimore at the end of April. The engineers are aiming to restore port access to full capacity by the end of May.
Concerns about environmental impacts of the crash remain. Fourteen ship containers holding hazardous materials were damaged in the accident, according to officials.
The Maryland Department of the Environment has analyzed the water in the affected area and found no contaminants on the day the bridge collapsed.
“Sampling will continue indefinitely every few days as needed,” said Jay Apperson, deputy communications director.
By LISA WOELFL AND MATHEW J. SCHUMER
Regional News
Distress Call Precedes Disaster at Baltimore Bridge
BALTIMORE – A container ship leaving the Port of Baltimore sounded a mayday call just before plowing into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the early morning hours Tuesday, collapsing a fixture of the local landscape and prompting a rescue mission for an overnight road crew at work on the bridge at the time of the crash.
A view of the Key Bridge, which collapsed early Tuesday morning after it was struck by a ship. (Sapna Bansil/Capital News Service)
The last-minute warning likely saved countless lives by alerting officials to divert traffic away from the bridge, but rescue teams spent the entire day searching for at least six individuals who were part of the construction crew.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who arrived in Baltimore Tuesday morning, said those aboard the ship alerted authorities they had a “power issue” shortly before the collision.
As a result of the last-minute warning, “local authorities were able to close the bridge to traffic before the bridge was struck, which undoubtedly saved lives,” President Joe Biden told reporters later that afternoon.
Several road workers were fixing potholes on the bridge at the time of the collapse, according to Paul J. Wiedefeld, Maryland secretary of transportation. Two people were rescued from the water shortly after the collision, officials said.
While the investigation is just beginning, authorities said all signs point to an accident. An FBI spokesperson said there is no evidence this was an act of terrorism. The bridge, which opened 47 years ago this week, was fully up to code, according to Moore.
“To hear the words that the key bridge has collapsed, it’s shocking,” the governor told reporters. “The words that the key bridge is gone, it still shakes us …This is not just unprecedented, it’s heartbreaking.”
Biden addressed reporters Tuesday afternoon, calling on Congress to support reconstruction of the bridge with federal funding. The bridge is crucial for travel through Baltimore and throughout the country’s northeast corridor, he said, while the Port of Baltimore functions as a critical part of the nation’s economy.
“We’re going to spend all the federal resources (the state) needs as we respond to this emergency. I mean, all federal resources,” said Biden. “We’re going to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as humanly possible.”
Baltimore City Fire Chief James Wallace said the ship struck a column of the bridge in the 1 a.m. hour, causing a major portion of it to snap. Entrances to the bridge were immediately shut down and traffic on this span of I-695 was redirected through the I-95 and I-895 tunnels.
Rescue efforts were then coordinated by several first responding agencies in the city of Baltimore and Harford County, along with the U.S. Coast Guard.
One patient from the incident was taken to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center, a hospital spokesperson confirmed with Capital News Service.
Synergy Marine Group, the company responsible for the ship’s management, said in a statement that all crew members and two pilots were accounted for and no injuries were reported.
Dundalk residents gathered along the highway leading to the bridge Tuesday afternoon. Many of them had woken up to the sound of rumbling in the early hours of the morning.
Harvey Brice, 73, of Dundalk, said he heard “a tremendous noise.”
“It kind of trembled the house a little bit,” said Brice.
Amanda Peters, 44, of Dundalk, heard what she said “sounded like this long thunder, but it didn’t make sense. It didn’t sound like a normal sound from the port. It just was a constant like, it’s hard to describe it. It was so loud but it continued for so long.”
Camille Sims, 23, of Glen Burnie, who works in Baltimore and frequently drives the bridge, said she was awake and felt her house shake after 1 a.m.
“My house just started shaking a little bit. It wasn’t crazy, like earthquake shaking, it was just like moving and I was confused,” she said.
Several government officials issued statements in response to the incident.
“Having worked in that area most of my life, I understand the bridge’s vital role for Baltimore’s Port and commuters,” State Sen. Johnny Ray Salling, whose district includes the bridge, said in a statement. “Losing this bridge will devastate the entire area, as well as the entire East Coast. We depend on the Port of Baltimore for transportation, travel, and commerce.”
State House Republicans also released a joint statement, saying “while this horrendous incident will require a full investigation, right now our focus must be on the victims, their families, and making sure they get the care and services they need. We must also take a moment to acknowledge the bravery of our heroic first responders currently working on rescue efforts.”
An investigation into the incident is now in the hands of the National Transportation Safety Board, who will evaluate what the conditions of both the vessel and the bridge were leading up to the collision.
By Angelique Gingras, Steph Quinn, Sapna Bansil, Lydia Hurley, Tyrah Burris, Kiersten Hacker and Emma Tufo
Capital News Service
Regional News
Supreme Court Appears Skeptical of Potential Limitations on Abortion Pill Mifepristone
WASHINGTON – Most of the Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical Tuesday of oral arguments that they should rule in favor of restricting nationwide access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
WASHINGTON – Protesters stand outside the Supreme Court Tuesday morning during oral arguments over possible restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone. (Matthew J. Schumer/Capital News Service)
The justices questioned whether the anti-abortion doctors with Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, who filed the lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration in November 2022, had been injured as a result of the FDA lifting restrictions on mifepristone usage in 2016 and again in 2021.
The mifepristone case is the most important abortion case before the court since the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the end to a constitutional right to an abortion with the Dobbs v. Jackson decision in June 2022.
If a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling is allowed to stand, access to the widely used drug for abortions would be curtailed and could impact the presidential election.
Justices began questioning focused on who has standing to challenge the FDA’s actions in 2016 and 2021.
“Is there anybody who could challenge in court the lawfulness of what the FDA did here?” Justice Samuel Alito asked Justice Department Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who argued on behalf of the FDA.
The 2016 changes “increased the gestational age limit from seven to ten weeks,” reduced the number of required in-person medical visits and allowed non-physician healthcare providers, such as nurse practitioners, to prescribe and distribute mifepristone.
In 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA utilized telehealth and eliminated the requirement for in-person distribution of the pill and later made the permanent change in 2023.
“The government has been routinely resisting standing because we think that that would essentially mean that any advocacy organization could say it opposes what the federal government is doing and so therefore has to devote resources to that opposition,” Prelogar said.
Numerous back-and-forth exchanges between the justices and Erin Hawley, wife of Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, who argued on behalf of the doctors, revealed the justices’ doubts about whether the FDA’s actions caused the injury Hawley claimed.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson expressed concern trying to balance the claimed injury – the small number of adverse effects of the pill and likelihood of side effects – against the legal remedy, which would be nationwide limitations on the pill.
The justice noted that the “obvious common-sense” remedy for the doctors’ issue would have been to provide an exemption.
“So I guess then what (the respondents are) asking for in this lawsuit is more than that,” Jackson said. “They’re saying, because we object to having to be forced to participate in this procedure, we’re seeking an order preventing anyone from having access to these drugs at all. And I guess I’m just trying to understand how they could possibly be entitled to that, given the injury that they have alleged.”
Similarly, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Neil Gorsuch questioned why a nationwide ban on the pill is necessary.
“Why can’t the court specify that this relief runs to precisely the parties before the court, as opposed to looking to the agency in general and saying, ‘Agency, you can’t do this anywhere,’” Roberts asked Hawley.
Gorsuch said there were “zero universal injunctions that were issued during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 12 years in office” but around 60 in the last four years, emphasizing the extent of Hawley’s request.
A nationwide ban, Prelogar argued, would harm the FDA, the pharmaceutical industry and women who need access to medical abortions.
“What the (lower) court did to guard against that very remote risk is enter sweeping nationwide relief that restricts access to mifepristone for every single woman in this country and that causes profound harm,” Prelogar said.
First approved in 2000, mifepristone, taken with another drug called misoprostol, operates by blocking progesterone, a hormone that is necessary for a pregnancy to continue, according to the FDA.
The FDA reported 32 deaths in patients associated with mifepristone as of December 2022.
During the oral arguments, Alito noted that the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine said the studies used by the FDA to make the 2021 changes indicated that “mail order mifepristone suggests more frequent trips to the emergency room.”
But Alito read from an FDA report saying that “although the literature suggests there may be more frequent emergency room care visits related to the use of mifepristone when dispensed by mail from the clinic, there are no apparent increases in other serious adverse events related to mifepristone use.”
The Supreme Court is expected to rule in the mifepristone case in June.
By FATIMA YAZDI
Capital News Service
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