Quick Hit: 

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has clarified President Biden's remarks regarding the funding for the reconstruction of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, suggesting that insurance payments and the bipartisan infrastructure law could cover the costs, rather than U.S. taxpayers. This comes after Biden's statement that the federal government would bear the entire cost of the bridge's reconstruction.

Key Details: 

• The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after a cargo ship hit a support beam, causing at least eight construction workers and multiple vehicles to fall into the Patapsco River.
• The ship involved was the Dali, a 95,000 GT Singapore-flagged container ship managed by the Synergy Group, a Singapore-based company.
• Yellen's comments suggest that the funding for the bridge's reconstruction could come from insurance payments and the bipartisan infrastructure law, rather than U.S. taxpayers.

Diving Deeper: 

Secretary Yellen's comments on MSNBC appear to walk back President Biden's earlier statement that the federal government would foot the entire bill for the bridge's reconstruction. "My expectation would be that ultimately there will be insurance payments, in part, to cover this. But we don't want to allow worrying about where the financing will come from to hold up reconstruction," Yellen said.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge, a crucial infrastructure along I-695 in Maryland, collapsed after a cargo ship, the Dali, slammed into a support beam. The incident resulted in at least eight construction workers and multiple vehicles plunging into the Patapsco River. The Synergy Group, the Singapore-based company that manages the ship, reported that all crew members were accounted for and there were no injuries.

While the investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing, initial footage suggests that a power failure on the vessel could have led to the collision. Despite the incident, the Synergy Group reported no pollution from the ship.