The federal government plans to cover the entire cost of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge, lawmakers announced Tuesday, fulfilling a promise from President Joe Biden and clearing up a pivotal outstanding question as the state recovers from the tragedy.

The funding for the Key Bridge rebuild was wrapped into the latest federal spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, that keeps the government operating, U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin announced.

The continuing resolution has been negotiated among lawmakers as yet another possible federal government shutdown looms with funding running out. Maryland’s lawmakers were able to fold the Key Bridge funding — including a pledge of 100% federal funding instead of the typical 90% — into that legislation.

With this maneuver, Maryland’s senators said, “Congress is now committed to covering the full cost of replacing the bridge. This will allow the bridge to be built as quickly as possible.”

The recovery and rebuild are part of a Federal Highway Administration emergency program that typically foots 90% of the costs and expects states to pick up the remaining balance. Working with current estimates, that would have meant the Maryland Transportation Authority would need to find roughly $200 million.

It wasn’t immediately clear when the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, and then the U.S. Senate, would vote on the bill in light of Friday’s deadline to avert a partial government shutdown.

U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, a Baltimore Democrat, said he expected a vote in the House within 48 hours. He credited the victory to a hard-fought effort across party lines, including U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland’s only Republican in Congress.

“It was a chance to work together and work hard across party lines,” he said. “I can’t tell you enough how much we were able to get support in the House and the Senate from Republicans.” Most members of Congress realize that their district could be next to need emergency help from a disaster or catastrophe, Mfume said.

Maryland’s lawmakers all co-sponsored legislation this year known as the Baltimore BRIDGE Relief Act, which Mfume said offered a “blueprint” for Congress to fund the bridge rebuild. Biden later included the provisions of that legislation in a request to Congress for a variety of disaster funding needs.

The only “naysayers,” Mfume said, were those who didn’t want the outgoing Biden to claim a victory.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore praised the inclusion of the Key Bridge in the funding bill. He noted that he’d spoken with more than 150 members of Congress in an effort to secure money for the bridge over the past several months.

“Congress’ decision to work together to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge marks a key moment in Maryland’s historic recovery and proves that moving in partnership isn’t just important — it is imperative for real progress,” Moore, a Democrat, said in a statement.

“The best Congressional Delegation a mayor could ask for is coming through yet again,” wrote Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott on the social media platform X on Tuesday night. He wrote in a follow-up tweet, “This was a hard fight to make happen — now, join me in calling on Congress to get it passed this week!”

Questions about who would cover the cost of the rebuild have swirled ever since a container ship, the Dali, smashed into a support pier during the early hours of March 26, toppling the bridge into the Patapsco River. Six men who were working on the bridge died in the collapse.

Shortly afterward, Biden pledged that the federal government would pay the entire cost of the recovery and rebuild. During a visit to the Port of Baltimore on a blustery April day, he vowed to “move heaven and earth” to rebuild as quickly as possible, and to do so with “union labor and American steel.”

Since then, the Maryland Transit Authority, which owns and operates Maryland toll facilities like the Key and Chesapeake Bay bridges, has forged ahead with its rebuild operation. In August, it awarded an initial $73 million contract to infrastructure behemoth Kiewit for project development, including bridge design. Kiewit will have first dibs on the construction contract once plans firm up.

Last month, the MDTA submitted preliminary designs to the Coast Guard for navigational approval. The mockup shows a cable-stayed structure that would be much taller than the original Key Bridge — though the designs were purely conceptual, many assume the future Key Bridge will be cable-stayed.

The state’s plans call for the new bridge to have at least 230 feet of vertical clearance over the federal navigation channel — 45 feet higher than the previous bridge — to allow larger container ships into the Port of Baltimore. That will also require the bridge to be longer.

Officials estimate that the new structure will be open to traffic by the fall of 2028 and will cost roughly $2 billion in total.

Plenty of lawsuits are in the works, too. In October, the owner and manager of the Dali both settled with the Department of Justice for $100 million amid damning allegations of negligence and mismanagement. The state has its own ongoing lawsuit, as do the families of the six victims who were killed.