Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation held joint phone calls with U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to push for the federal funding. Maryland now needs to “negotiate hard” with CSX and other stakeholders and look for other sources of federal money that can be used to help pay for the project, said U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat. He called the railroad’s $91 million bid “a good starting offer" which, he said, "should have been higher.”