Speaker Emerita Pelosi Floor Speech on the Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse

Washington, D.C. – Today, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi delivered remarks during a bipartisan Special Order Hour on the Floor of the House of Representatives to amplify the impact of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, recognize the actions of brave first responders and honor the families of the six fallen construction workers.

Watch Speaker Emerita Pelosi's remarks here.

Read Speaker Emerita Pelosi's remarks below:

Speaker Emerita Pelosi.  Thank you, Mr. Speaker.  I thank the gentleman for yielding.  And I especially thank him for his leadership for the great state of Maryland and the city of Baltimore as well as for calling this Special Order this evening so that we could come together and express the heartbreak that we all felt and now to commemorate the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and these six beautiful souls, loving memory of them who lost their souls on that dark morning. 

Thank you again, Congressman Kweisi, for organizing this Special Order.  I join you and Congresswoman – excuse me, Congressman Sarbanes in recognizing the leadership role of the Governor of Maryland, Wes Moore.  I want to pay tribute to the Mayor of Baltimore, Brandon Scott, and to all of our Congressional delegation for uniting together in a bipartisan way in response to this tragedy.

Two weeks ago, just to remind, it was two weeks ago, in the dark of night, braving the cold, a crew got to work making repairs to the Francis Scott Key Bridge.  They were doing their jobs so that 30,000 people a day could go to theirs, to do their jobs.  Our love and prayers are with those who lost their lives in this collapse, and with their families who lost a husband, a brother, a father, a son. 

Our gratitude is with the heroic emergency responders.  They responded so quickly and saved lives, as well as the teams working quickly to clear the channel. 

The magnitude of the collapse cannot be understated: six families shattered, first and foremost.  Tens of thousands of commuters rerouted.  Paralysis of a port that handles $80 billion a year in commerce, sending a shock wave to the entire economy.

But inspired by the love, unity and resilience of the Baltimore community, Baltimore will rebuild.  President [Biden], as has been mentioned, and the Congress must be there with resources to support every step of the way.

And on that score, I would say that having been in this Congress for a long time, sadly we have borne witness to many natural and other disasters that have befallen our communities, whether it was the bridge in Minnesota, whether it was a storm in Florida, whether it was Katrina in New Orleans, whether it was water damage in Iowa.  The list goes on and on.  But we have all been there for each other.  Maybe not all of us, but most of us have been there. 

And this is a big, big tragedy.  But in terms of cost, much smaller than many of the hurricanes and the rest that have happened in the rest of the country.  But we can learn from them.  Whether it's unemployment insurance for the workers, whatever it happens to be.  We want to make sure that we utilize every resource at our disposal to bring people together. 

Governor has pointed out, as has Congresswoman Kweisi and Members of the delegation, our Senators, Sarbanes – excuse me, Congressman Sarbanes, our Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, that this is a national challenge.  If you are a restaurateur in Tennessee, you’re affected by this.  If you're an autoworker in Ohio, you're affected by this.  If you're a salesperson in West Virginia you're affected by this because of the – just the products that come through, the products that come through.  And the jobs that are affected by it. 

In closing – I mean, again, my father was Mayor of Baltimore my whole life, from when I was in first grade to when I left for college, he was still mayor of Baltimore.  So that's where my heart is.  I always was so proud of the fact that the National Anthem was written in Baltimore.  Francis Scott Key, in the War of 1812, wrote the National Anthem. 

My brother Tommy, who also was Mayor of Baltimore, was always fond of singing it in his way.  And the line in the song that I always liked the best, and I think that applies here is when he says, 'gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.'  That's when I start cheering at the game.  Not at the end, but at that point, as I just did at opening day in San Francisco.

Those were the words penned by Francis Scott Key as he gazed upon the ramparts – now a bridge bearing his name is where, near where those ramparts were.  And as we rebuild, indeed, ‘give proof through the night that our flag is still there’ – our flag being our unifying, unifying symbol of our country.  That we're all in this together.  And we will be there.  We'll learn from other disasters.  We'll teach other disasters in the future by how we in a new, fresh way, in the Baltimore way, Baltimore strong, rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge. 

'Proof through the night that our flag was still there.'

Thank you, Mr. Mfume.  I’m pleased to yield back to you.