MSNBC "Interview"-Transcript

Interview

MSNBC "Interview"-Transcript

MS. HALL: Congress is poised to provide up to a quarter of a billion dollars in emergency aid to help with recovery efforts happening right now in Minneapolis. The federal government has ordered all states to immediately inspect every bridge with similar designs.

Minnesota congressman Tim Wald is a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Thank you, Congressman, for joining us.

MR. WALD: Thank you, Tamron.

MS. HALL: I'm looking at so many numbers, Congressman, on how many numbers it would take to improve bridge quality not only in Minnesota but throughout this country. I've got a number in front of me, $188 billion. It's just one of the figures out there.

REP. WALD: Yeah, absolutely. Well, first of all, thanks for having me, Tamron. And I'd like to personally send my condolences to all the families who lost loved ones out in Minnesota, a thank you to my fellow Americans for all the support they've shown.

You're absolutely right, the investment in our infrastructure is going to be very expensive. But from the perspective of this week in Minneapolis, I think most Americans would agree that it's an expense that we need to be willing to put in and maintain our roadways and our bridges.

MS. HALL: And Congressman, obviously, you sent your condolences out to those families who are still waiting to learn the fate of their loved ones. But can you imagine being one of those people hearing now that this bridge, you know, did not pass certain safety standards in 1993, and that it was being checked every year.

But you look at this video, and this is the end result of being checked every single year?

REP. WALD: Yeah, and I don't think there's any words that we're going to give them right now. It's too early, and not being a structural engineer myself, it's too early to tell exactly what the failure was. But I don't anyone is -- should be surprised about the state of our infrastructure. It's something that I've talked about often.

And two seeks out in Minnesota we held an economic summit where this very issue was brought up about safety, mobility, and then of course economics, and the congestion and what it's causing.

So it's going to be an expensive process. And this catastrophe, the silver lining will be it gets Americans talking about what it means to invest in infrastructure.

MS. HALL: You know, Congressman, just a few minutes ago we showed video of First Lady Laura Bush there at the scene and offering her condolences and just giving a hug and a kind word to the rescuers who are still out there trying to recover the missing. We know that the president is expected to also be there before the weekend.

But I've got to ask you, it's one thing to offer condolences, it's one thing to offer support. But what else can Congress do to make sure that this does not happen again?

REP. WALD: Well, you're absolutely right. And the question now is, is that it's a twofold mission. The one is of course the recovery and the care of our citizens out in Minnesota. But Congress' next move is to make sure that we never repeat this.

And this afternoon in just a few minutes we're going to cast votes on providing that aid to get Minneapolis back on its feet. This is the largest and most traveled bridge in Minnesota. This is the heart of our economy. It has to get back up and going, and Congress needs to make sure that we're there to do that.

So you're right, and I appreciate the First Lady being there. I appreciate her thanking those first responders who have done everything asked of them. But it's not enough to just do that. We need to make sure that we're investing accordingly and doing everything possible to make sure we never see a repeat of this.

MS. HALL: All right, thank you very much, Congressman, for your insight.

REP. WALD: Thank you.

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