Posted on August 27, 2025
BALTIMORE — As Baltimore continues to be in the crosshairs of the rhetoric between President Donald Trump and Maryland leaders, the future funding for the Key Bridge rebuild remains in question.
Sunday, President Donald Trump responded to Gov. Wes Moore’s invitation to visit Maryland and walk the streets of Baltimore to see the crime fighting strategies underway. On social media, President Trump warned to send in “troops” to Baltimore to “quickly clean up the Crime” and said he would not “walk the streets of Maryland.
However, President Trump’s comments went further and this time, threated to possibly withdraw funding for the Key Bridge rebuild effort – a project that’s already underway and Congress approved funding for previously on a bipartisan basis.
“I gave Wes Moore a lot of money to fix his demolished bridge,” he wrote. “I will now have to rethink that decision???”
Congressman Andy Harris, Maryland’s lone Republican member in Congress, said Gov. Moore “hasn’t exactly been kind” to President Trump and said, “there’s a consequence to that.”
“The President controls the executive branch. I wouldn’t be surprised if the President rethinks the funding for the Key Bridge,” Harris said. “Obviously, this governor has enough money to spend millions of dollars on suing the Trump Administration. Maybe they have enough money to fund the Key Bridge as well.”
Gov. Moore was quick to argue the funding allocation was an “action that is written into law because of the leaders who put politics aside.”
“Any threats to this funding will cause irrevocable damage to the national economy and to the entire State of Maryland,” Gov. Moore’s statement continued.
Despite Harris’s comments, Senate President Bill Ferguson disagreed. When the cargo ship, DALI, caused the Key Bridge to collapse, it was a national emergency due to the Port of Baltimore and the national shipping route, Ferguson said, and therefore, Congress should play a role in the rebuild.
“This isn’t just a regional bridge. This is a national asset,” Ferguson said. “In every other case, the federal government has stepped up and recognized in emergency situations, we fully will cover the cost. I believe that should continue to be the case here.”
If Maryland is forced to pay for the rebuild in any capacity – which right now, is projected to cost between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion – Ferguson said the money will have to come from somewhere else in the state budget.
“So, they come from the reconstruction and rebuild of Route 50 on the Eastern Shore. They come from I-81 in Western Maryland. They come from improvements to 32 in central Maryland,” he said. “We just hope is that it would be normal practice as the federal government has done time and time again in emergency situations.”
It’s not clear how serious President Trump is about the reality of reversing the funding. Gov. Moore has vowed to continue to fight for the State of Maryland and the people in the state amid the back-and-forth with the White House, and political experts have indicated litigation is likely if the funding is pulled. However, Harris said litigation would be futile.
“Although it was authorized by Congress, that doesn’t mean it has to be spent. The President has the ability to [pull it],” Harris said. “The actual language of the bill gives the Administration the ability to fully fund it, but it does not require the Administration to fully fund it.”
As the contentious debate continues between leaders in Maryland and President Trump about crime, Senate President Ferguson said the state is “trying to be responsible in a very uncertain time,” given Maryland’s unique position and proximity to D.C.
“On the Key Bridge, at the end of the day, this is not political. This is an asset for the entire country,” Ferguson said. “Given its importance to the Port [of Baltimore] and what it has provided for the movement of commerce across the country, the Key Bridge is an absolute asset that the federal government rightfully should step up and cover.”
The current timeline for completion of the Key Bridge is fall of 2028.
