Senator Chris Van Hollen talks Key Bridge and securing federal funding with Nestor from MACo in Ocean City, highlighting Maryland’s efforts to work with the federal government for the rebuild. Lots here on oyster restoration and conservation of the Chesapeake Bay and the impact of the Trump presidency on American politics and journalism.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

maryland, bridge, oyster, republican, senator cardin, small businesses, country, people, senator, program, years, protecting, talk, federal government, bay, harbor, chris van hollen, state, journalists, election

SPEAKERS

Senator Chris Van Hollen, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Welcome home. We are wnst am 1570 Taos in Baltimore and Baltimore, positive. We are positively into day two. My voice is coming together. And I knew I had two senators from our great state here, the Free State, on the program. We’ll have a senator, Ben Cardin a little later on, Chris Van Hollen now joins us here on the set in, uh, in Ocean City, Maryland. How are you? Nestor,

Senator Chris Van Hollen  00:24

a great to see you. Always a pleasure. Beautiful day here in Ocean City.

Nestor Aparicio  00:28

Come on down, everybody. Well, I listen. I exited secrets at approximately 8:45pm, last night, but sixth inning of the ball game, because I’m like, I gotta make time for so many things happen in a year since we got together. And I try to write these nice plotted, you know, plaudits, and then the Key Bridge goes down. We wind up having to talk about heavy stuff. So that’s part. I mean, I like to talk baseball and all that. But what they keep Give me your Key Bridge story, because I was in Florida the morning that happened, and when I saw it, I thought, this is going to take a massive amount of government to figure this out.

Senator Chris Van Hollen  01:03

It is going to take a massive amount of government. And I had the same reaction like, Oh my god. Actually got a call around 3am in the morning from Secretary Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation, and I do want to give him and President Biden enormous kudos for quickly rallying around to help the state of Maryland its hour of need. You know, all a bunch of us got a call from the president a little later on, and there’s so many pieces to it right. The immediate piece was to make sure that we help the families who lost loved ones. We needed to make sure that the recovery efforts were respectful of those we lost. And then, of course, reopening the port was huge, and because of the Army Corps of Engineer, because of the coordination between the federal government and the state government, we were able to open that channel and finally, resume the big ships going through, which are essential to jobs, and now, now our job is to try to, you know, make sure we get the funds to rebuild the bridge to people

Nestor Aparicio  02:08

in Washington understand that, I mean as a transportation issue, that it’s not a local issue, that it’s a national issue. With you have to explain that to other senators from Wyoming and other places, and the same way that they would have to explain to you after a fire on the west coast or a flood in the South that we’re all kind of all in this together, right? I mean, that bridge needs to function well. So the

Senator Chris Van Hollen  02:30

answer is yes and no. So on the one hand, I think all of them saw the those images of the collapse of the bridge and the ship the dolly running into the bridge. So this was not just as, you know, national news, this was an international story. So they get the scope of the disaster. They also get the, you know, it’s going to be expensive. And they also understand that in past cases like this, like in Minneapolis, when the bridge collapsed, the federal government came in and provided 100% that said there are some members of Congress who want the country to show up for their state or their town when something bad happens, but are not always ready to reciprocate and say that we’re going to help everybody, like Maryland at this point in time. Now, I think we’re overcoming that. I think that’s a minority of members of Congress, and so Senator Cardin and I and Congressman fume. In fact, the whole delegation, on a bipartisan basis, introduced a bill to provide 100% of federal funding to rebuild the bridge. I should emphasize, we made very clear that any monies that are collected from lawsuits, you know, filed against the shipping company or others, that the proceeds of those lawsuits will go to reimburse the federal government and federal taxpayers for the monies that are spent to help build the bridge.

Nestor Aparicio  03:55

It’s unthinkable, right? I mean, there’s, there is no playbook for this, or a rehearsal or fire drill for that sort of unthinkable tragedy.

Senator Chris Van Hollen  04:06

That’s true in terms of how we as a city of Baltimore and the state responded in the federal government coming together, because no two of these terrible accidents are the same. I mean, this one had components that other sort of big disasters around the country did not share. For example, in addition to the bridge collapse and having to rebuild that, we had to dredge the harbor right and get that open again. And of course, we we lost the workers on on the bridge. All that said we were able to move very quickly with the federal government, because the President did instruct all the federal agencies to cooperate. So the main thing we were able to do is one, get the Army Corps of Engineers to take the lead in clearing the channel. Right? That is a huge deal. They spent hundreds, 10s of millions. Dollars doing that. The other big thing Nestor is that there is a federal program called the emergency relief program, that is a fund designed for exactly these kind of emergencies. And Maryland, for the Key Bridge, is already enrolled in that. And so what that means is we are already signed up and eligible for the federal government to cover 90% of the costs of rebuilding. What Senator Cardin and I and the Maryland team are working on is to make sure we get the other 10% but having assurance on the 90% is a big deal to start with, but we are working to, you know, make good on the President’s promise that it will be 100% Well, you

Nestor Aparicio  05:44

mentioned Senator Cardin. He’ll be here a little later on. He’s going to be exiting, and we talk legacy with him. And I’m sure everybody in your chair likes to have a legacy and say, I started here and ended here, and these are the things I’ve accomplished working with him. I want to give you an opportunity to talk because you brought him up and saying that that sort of partnership might be changing. I’m gonna have Larry Hogan. Would have Angel also Brooks on the program. We’re gonna talk to them about the future. But what is that like for state with two Democratic senators and getting things done, as opposed to, let’s say, if andy Harris, when the other seat, and they would just be opposition in a lot of cases, is it, does it make it better for Maryland to have two Democratic senators?

Senator Chris Van Hollen  06:20

There’s no doubt about it, and let me just say, Senator Cardin has been a great friend, wonderful partner. When I came over from the House of Representatives to the Senate, we immediately clicked and were able to work together. He had a very good working relationship with Senator Mikulski, and now he and I have a very strong partnership, and he is the head of, you know, federal team Maryland, in the sense that he’s the dean of the delegation. So just earlier today down here in you know, Ocean City, I was with him because we worked together to secure funds for University, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, which is an HBCU here in in Maryland for their they’re launching a veterinarian program. So it’s just a testament to the fact that while Ben Cardin may be not running for your election and he’s retiring, he is running fast through the fifth sprinting he is just not missing a beat. And so I am looking forward to having Angela Ulster Brooks as the next senator, partner working hard to make that happen. And obviously she’s got a competitive race with Larry Hogan, but I’m confident with a lot of hard work, she’ll get over the finish line. All

Nestor Aparicio  07:36

right, let’s go hard core politics. I was at a Republican a soiree last evening, and a man I consider a friend for 30 years, a guy who was a sponsor, a guy ran for a pretty big public office in the state as a Republican, did not win. He knows I didn’t vote for him, but we got to talking last night, and he for the first, the first Republican that I’ve been with at that level who said to me, we got this all wrong with Trump, like, Larry’s probably gonna get killed because of this, like in the election, because he there is no Republican center. They don’t have that finding all I’m still very, very nervous about all things election and all things Trump. Where do you sit? Because you were probably in the building on January 6, right? I mean, this is I’m astonished that he’s not in jail, quite frankly. And I say that to everyone candidly. And I’m astonished that the party still that I still see the signs when I drive on 50 out here. So I am nervous. But when I go to a Republican Party, and a hardcore Republican guy is standing next to me at the corner of a party saying, I think half my party’s lost its mind. We’re on the Kinzinger side of things. I’m thinking, well, maybe, just maybe November 15, we’ll go back to two parties and, you know, and sort of some something that feels like the middle of the country, yeah, maybe, yeah.

Senator Chris Van Hollen  08:54

I first of all, I think so we have to work hard to make sure that happens. You are right to be nervous, because I remember back in 2016 a lot of people back then said, Now Donald Trump can never actually win the White House. And it happened. Now, you would think that after four years of Trump and the White House, it would be much harder for him to be able to pull it off again, but we’re going to have to work very, very hard. And I do believe that the great majority of the country recognizes what a what a danger he is to our democracy, that Donald Trump is all about. Donald Trump, he’s not about, you know, helping his community and his country. And we see that every day. And on the other hand, we have, you know, with Kamala Harris, the Vice President, we have somebody who, I think is quickly, you know, galvanized lots of support around the country. So I’m

Nestor Aparicio  09:53

almost surprised by that put me down as

Senator Chris Van Hollen  09:58

really believing that. The country will do the right thing and elect her and Tim walls and here in Maryland, Kamala Harris, but also put me down as somebody who says, we have a hell of a lot of work to do. This is not like coasting. You’ve got to do the work to make it happen. I

Nestor Aparicio  10:13

feel differently than I felt the morning after the debate, let’s say with, with the President and with, with, with former President Trump. I That morning was was a low point, and to reach this point where I’m here at Mako and I’m feeling like, hey, this thing might go the right way. You know, we democracy might survive. At one point, I looked out with my Republican friend at the sun setting over the water up there at rope walk on eight, and I looked out and I said, Why do we want to mess this up? This is, you know, we all have it good here. You know, we really do. But the chaotic part of the last eight years, you as a sitting senator, have you been shocked by the amount of chaos that has been sown in the police? I mean, never easy, Democrats and Republicans. It hasn’t been easy here ever 250 years, but these last couple years, it certainly feels like we’re at a point. I’m in my mid 50s, and I never would have dreamed about my mid 30s. Let’s say

Senator Chris Van Hollen  11:03

no. So look, there’s no doubt that American politics is always a lot of back and forth. I mean, this is politics is, in many ways, a, you know, a contact sport, but without the weapons, at least it’s supposed to be that way. All that being said, the Trump phenomena is unlike anything that we’ve seen, certainly in this country for decades, and the polarization that he brought with him. You know, most people, when they run in the general election, they try to run as someone who be president for the entire country. Donald Trump both ran and then governed as somebody who essentially wanted to divide people against one another based on race or ethnicity or religion,

Nestor Aparicio  11:50

picking states during a plague to give aid to. You know, look,

Senator Chris Van Hollen  11:54

this is a this is a guy who, you may remember, picked on a disabled kid, right? So that’s who we’ve got. We’ve got somebody who, at Essence, at his core, is a bully. He’s about himself. But look, he got elected once, which means we’ve got to work hard. I do think we have to break the fever. We need two strong political parties, and one of the parties cannot be a party based on a personality they need to be based on ideas and principles, ones that I may disagree with, whatever the Republican sort of argument is and has been in the past in terms of certain issues. But Donald Trump just he’s not a Republican in that sense, right? He’s not somebody who supports traditional Republican principles. He’s all about Donald Trump and the personality cult is very dangerous.

Nestor Aparicio  12:46

You do a lot for small business senator. I own one. This is one right here, a little am radio station in Towson, doing it for 26 years. You know, digging a little harder, working a little harder against the clear channels and the Odysseys and all the big guys. I know that it’s a it’s makes up the country. My kind of people, small businesses, make up the state. I see it everywhere. I’m doing this crazy oyster tour next month. So I’m going 26 oysters in 26 days. We’re gonna talk about the bay and the waterways, which I know you’re, you’re involved in. But small business, the bounce back of small business after covid. It was so crucial to me, because I saw all these restaurants, I would go in and get a doggy bag with a mask on, just tears in my eyes, hoping the meatballs would still be there after covid, hoping that this place could survive. That small business and all of my clients are small businesses as well. We are week to week, month to month, situation to situation, election to election, in how we can conduct business. And I know that’s always been forefront for

Senator Chris Van Hollen  13:46

you. It has because, you know, you’re a great example small but small businesses are the lifeblood of the community. I mean, they’re, they’re the people, first of all, who are in touch with the community. They’re the people who help offer job opportunities, people in the community, and because of their connection to the community. If we’re not there supporting small businesses, we’re hurting the whole, the whole, right? And so that is why during covid It was so important to have the paycheck protection program right for many small businesses. I’m

Nestor Aparicio  14:16

a PPP still here.

Senator Chris Van Hollen  14:19

I mean, it helped small businesses like yours stay alive during that valley of death, right and come out on the other side. And without that support, we’d all be in big, big trouble, small businesses, but the rest of the country. So that was just one example. Then we passed the American rescue plan. That was one of the first acts that President Biden took up. I wish at that point in time we’d had bipartisan support for that that passed with just Democratic votes in the House and the Senate, but that did help further pull the country out of that health crisis, but also out of the economic hole that. We’re in because of covid, and so now look, clearly there are other issues in the economy. Clearly there are questions of costs and price, but the most recent news, both in terms of employment continuing to go up, inflation coming down. This is good news, and we need to keep those investments moving and keep our support of small business strong.

Nestor Aparicio  15:28

I can’t do an oyster and a crab cake tour next month without talking to you about the waterways at the bay. Saw my first horseshoe crab ever the other night, had oysters growing on it, and my wife’s video, and it’s right in front of fagers and a little bridge, and she says, that’s a real live horse. You grab like, yeah, they’re kind of all over the place down here. Don’t pick them up by the tail. I read that on the air. All the work that gets done. And I when I see pollution in our bay, and I see things like that, this oyster tour is really about the oysters cleaning the bay to allow the crabs to live so we can have delicious crab cakes here. But also just taking care of the bay. Is I go up Martin O’Malley, and I had long conversations about that. That’s a legacy for all of you, because I think growing up here, we just don’t realize. Go look at a map. Look at any map in the country, our place looks a little weird and different, marshy, because it has all of that water that’s so important.

Senator Chris Van Hollen  16:17

Well, I’m thrilled that you’re doing the oyster tour for the oyster recovery program, by the way, yeah, no, no, I’ve worked with the oyster recovery program folks. They do great work. I mean, we’ve literally, I think they’ve gotten millions and millions, if not billions, of new oysters in the bay. I’m sure they’ll give you the full and they clear, yeah, and they filter the water, right? I mean, one of the reasons that the Chesapeake Bay was so clean

Nestor Aparicio  16:45

that you didn’t jump, right? You didn’t, I’ve

Senator Chris Van Hollen  16:48

not. I am not doing that. Oh, I am. I am definitely gonna jump in the harbor. I’ve already talked to the mayor about it. I believe in

Nestor Aparicio  16:55

sitting Center.

Senator Chris Van Hollen  16:58

I’m fine with my new trip. Carton will do it. And

Nestor Aparicio  17:01

if Angela Ulster Brook, I’ll get in with you guys. Okay, if you know, but, um, I watched that act last month, and I thought, yeah, I lived at the harbor for 20 years, but I saw crabs and snakes and turtles. I said, fish, you know, but I don’t, it’s not for me. I’m good in the ocean. I came down here.

Senator Chris Van Hollen  17:17

I was just down about 10 days ago at the National Aquarium, we did this new exhibit. They’ve got Marshall they out, yeah, the marshland, which is actually going to help clean up the harbor. It’s another filtration system. Wetlands are also ways to, sort of, you know, prevent the runoff from getting into the bay without, you know, directly, it’s like a sponge. But, you know, the oysters really are these filtration systems, and that is why we’ve been working to, you know, help restore them. They’re also great eating. And, you know, just a little, you know, personal story, my great grandfather had something. He had a little business in Baltimore, speaking about businesses, that was called the Atlantic seafood company, sure. And they would actually get the oysters from the watermen. They come into the harbor there, and they get them and put them on ice, and then ship them by railroad into places like Chicago and so. So our families

Nestor Aparicio  18:19

down the Virginia here, that that railroad looks like it was built 200 years ago, and it’s clearly was an oyster as well as agriculture, but it’s down to the oyster beds, down toward chicken. I mean, moving oysters along. This is and what the shells can be used for, and we’re gonna find that down in Hooper’s Island next month on that. All right, last thing before I had you here, I went on to the Chris Van Hollen news on your website, and I saw human rights, and I saw we talk about how great we have it in this country. And there’s other places where we have journalists, and I’m one of them, being held hostage. President Biden had a big story a couple weeks ago. You’re working on that. And to that, we have citizens trapped in other places that sometimes they can be forgotten about.

Senator Chris Van Hollen  19:03

We do. And again, I applaud. You know, President Biden on this agreement that was reached to bring back Americans being held in in Russia. We still have more work to do. But you know, the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan gertievich and others who helped, he’s helped secure the release. It is so important that we not forget about protecting Americans who were being held overseas, and make sure that we understand that the motivation for a lot of these governments locking people up, whether they’re Americans or their own citizens, is because they, and these are the political prisoners. They don’t want to tolerate any kind of dissent. And you know, if the United States is going to be true to our sort of principles of protecting the rights of free speech and democracy and human rights, we need to be standing up. For those around the world who are bringing us the truth, trying to shine a light on a truth, and that’s true, whether it’s someone in Russia or someone like Austin Tice, who is an American who was taken in Syria. He’s been over a decade now, been working with his mother to bring him home to protecting other journalists, wherever they are in in the world,

Nestor Aparicio  20:26

shocking things, just outrageous, just outrageous.

Senator Chris Van Hollen  20:29

That’s right, you got the Khashoggi situation. Look, you’ve got a terrible war in Gaza right now, including a lot of journalists there who have been killed. So the reality is that journalists help bring us the facts and bring us the news, and we need to do our job to try to make sure that we protect them. And the Committee to Protect Journalists is a very important organization, as is Reporters Without Borders. Appreciate

Nestor Aparicio  20:58

you. Senator. Senator Chris Van Hollen always comes by Orioles Ravens. We gonna get some championships. You’re gonna have some parades here this year.

Senator Chris Van Hollen  21:06

We’re looking forward to that. I’m looking forward to coming. Come on both teams can win here, right? Oyster

Nestor Aparicio  21:11

with me next month, somewhere on the tour. We’ll get playoff action. We ready to go. I’ll do

Senator Chris Van Hollen  21:15

that. I should also mention, you know, the situation in Venezuela right now, because

Nestor Aparicio  21:20

why I’m Venezuelan, so

Senator Chris Van Hollen  21:21

you know that, but, but I will say, in terms of protecting, you know, reporters and dissidents, they’re also under threat and being locked up right now. I got a

Nestor Aparicio  21:30

lot of relatives in Maracaibo. Yeah, absolutely. And you know that people, people forget about these other I guess that’s my point. We have so much with our election here. This is a lot going on around the world that falls on your desk, protecting people. Indeed, it’s

Senator Chris Van Hollen  21:42

great to be with you. Take care of yourself. Senator

Nestor Aparicio  21:44

Chris Van Hollen join us here. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery, the gold rush. Seven stumblers on my desk. We’ll be at fadelies next week when the Astros come to town to take care of that liberty. Pure solution. Shifty Lou, putting us on the road. We’re at Mako. Stay with us from Ocean City. We’re wnst, Baltimore. Positive you.