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implement spoke from the house floor about recovery efforts following the collapse of the francis scott key bridge. the democratic lawmaker represents baltimore and its district. mr. mfume: thank you very much, mr. speaker. let me begin by thanking the gentlewoman from texas for her opening remarks of this special hour dedicated to make sure that we underscore the sense of tragedy, the sense of loss and the sense of damage that has occurred as a result of the bridge collapse in baltimore. i want to thank her again for sitting in and standing in. your remarks are very well-received, we appreciate it, thank you. mr. speaker, i rise today shortly to welcome other members again who will be coming over to be a part of this special order. and i want to call everyone's attention to the fact that

somewhere around 1:30 a.m. on march 26, the dalia a large, 985-foot cargo ship, weighing 95,000 tons, went empty -- when empty, co-collided as we all know now tragically with the francis scott key bridge in baltimore. the dali's collision with the key bridge caused its fatal collapse into the river and has forced the port of baltimore to suspend vessel traffic until further notice. all of the ships lanes with the exception of the ones that the coast guard was just recently able to open have been closed and we don't expect that that -- expect that to change until sometime around the end of may if we are fortunate. aside from that i think it's always important to recognize it was not the collapse of the bridge alone that troubled us.

but it was also a loss of human life. . are hearts continue to go out to those that lost their loved ones on that bridge that fateful evening. this unimaginable disaster claimed the lives, as we know now, of six men, alejandro fuentes, mr. sandoval, miguel luna, ms. cabrera, renee lopez, and carlos hernandez. those stories and those lives have yet to be fully understood or told, but those men, most of whom have been in this country

16 or 17 years, working, in most instances, two jobs, married with children and raising families, paying taxes, and doing what a lot of people would not want to do at 1:30 in the morning that high up on a bridge filling potholes. we in the state of maryland continue to mourn them, as do people all over the country, and we know they were, indeed, as i said, husbands, somebody's father, somebody's brother. their passing serves as a solemn reminder to cherish our own lives and the lives of those that we really deeply care about. these men gave their heart. they gave their souls ultimately. they leave behind six

grieving families and loved ones that will never see them again. so those families can never get enough of our condolences and our prayers and our sympathies. i want to thank the largest latino organization in maryland, and gustavo torres and all those who worked so hard to support those grieving families the day of the collapse and every day since then, both financially and emotionally. and i ask we continue to lift them in prayer in a time of great tragedy that all americans, regardless where they are, to some extent feel, understand, and grieve for. i'd be remiss if i did not thank president joe biden, who called the governor and myself and other members of

the delegation that morning to express his profound regret and his unstenching and unwavering support and finding a way to make things whole again, to rebuild that bridge, and to allow those shipping lanes of commerce to be open. president biden since the beginning of this has not wavered in his support of replacing that bridge. and not just for the sake of replacing a bridge and to open, as i said before, the channels of commerce, but to also find a way to give hope to all the many people who are affected, the thousands of longshoremen, thousands of dock workers that do odd jobs, all of those in the communities of turner station and dundalk, maryland, right at the mouth of the bridge. as well as all of those

small businesses and business owners, the truck drivers and others, everyone affected when all commerce came to a halt. so thank you, president biden, we appreciated the simple eloquence of your example in this tragedy. we pledge to work with you and with the appropriate members of the appropriations bill or appropriations committee here in the congress. in addition to the president, i want to thank secretary buttigieg who also reached out early that morning as the sun rose and who was one of the first boots on the ground by noon. secretary buttigieg was initially responsible in making sure that the greenup funds, the initial dollars got appropriated and were sent and being used now in cleanup of the massive amount of debris which i'm going to talk about which is almost

unthinkable when you consider a bridge of that size. administrator guzman and the s.b.a., we thank you and thank all those s.b.a. officials who came over and started working with small businesses who are severely impacted by this, as was the case with acting secretary sue of the department of labor. one of the things i think is important to mention now is the united states coast guard and the army corps of engineers immediately stood up a command team on the scene, immediately began working with governor wes moore of maryland who, by the way, has done an excellent job in marshaling all of the state's resources.

that command team made up of the army corps of engineers and the f.b.i. and so many others that were involved from the start of this really has made a difference in terms of the progress made thus far. the american department of the environment and the transportation authority also very much a part of what took place. so this unified command as i indicated were some of the first boots on the ground and responded to this crisis day in and day out with diligence and with precision. their work around the clock 24/7 does not go unnoticed by our city, our state, or our nation. and we owe much dedication to those service men and service women who at this hour as i speak are still very much involved as they

have within in trying to find a way to open those channels. there are 51 divers in the water right now going through the wreckage, trying to assess the danger in very dangerous, dark, and murky circumstances. we still have three individuals who have not yet been recovered. so the work of those divers is particularly important so these families might be able to bring closure to all that's going on. i mentioned governor wes -- i want to speak about his team and members of the maryland delegation who have worked in lock step with one another to get us to this point. my thanks to both senators in the other body, senators cardin and van hollen, the entire house delegation,

congressman hoyer, congressman raskin who you'll hear from in a moment. congressman sarbanes, andy harris, congressman antonio, congressman glenn ivey and myself. i might, before i talk about the state's effort and what we're really dealing with when we think of this collapse, it's more than just concrete and bricks and steel falling in the ocean. it's interrupted supply chains >> c-span's washington journal, our live forum to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy, from washington and across the country. thursday morning, axios's sam

talks about the effort from house leadership to pass legislation reauthorizing the foreign intelligence surveillance act. then, we discussed the arizona abortion ban, usaid to israel and ukraine. and wyoming republican congresswoman harriet. c-span's washington journal, join the conversation live at 7:00 eastern thursday morning on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. >> tonight, president biden and first lady jill biden host a state dinner honoring the japanese prime minister. watch guest arrival live beginning at 5:00 p.m. eastern on c-span live, c-span.org. at 11:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, we feature highlights, including

the white house arrival and toasts at the dinner. watch the white house state dinner tonight on the c-span networks. house lawmakerslocked debate on a bill to reauthorize provisions of the foreign intelligence surveillance act that allows for a warrantless searches of foreign communication. 19 republicans joined every democrat to prevent the bill from moving forward. presumptive nominee donald trump also called for the bill to be blocked. next, we hear from house lawmakers talking reporter: congresswoman, where do things stand on the motion to vacate? ms. greene: i went over this yesterday. i sent a letter to my colleagues yesterday morning. the current discussions in our conference meeting this morning is about fisa. but it's pretty clear and obvious and being whispered among the conference mike johnson does not have the support of the conference. the letter that i sent has been well received. and it was basically speaking the quiet part out loud.