California Democrats Race Against Time for More High-Speed Rail Funding

Democratic lawmakers in California are making a last-ditch effort to secure more than half a billion in funding for the state’s long-delayed high-speed rail project before President Trump takes office in January.Senator Padilla and incoming Senator Schiff, along with Congressmen Pete Aguilar and Jim Costa and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, recently sent a letter to the outgoing transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, imploring him to approve $536 million in additional funding for the California High-Speed Rail Authority and the first phase of its $135 billion project to connect major urban hubs in the Golden State with rapid transit, according to a report from the Sacramento Bee.“Advancing progress on the California Phase 1 Corridor is essential for enhancing our nation’s and California’s strategic transportation network investments,” reads a section of the letter.Last December, the rail authority received a “record $3.1 Billion” from the Biden Administration for the project, making it the largest grant funding ever received by the agency. The state has also provided funding through a $9 billion bond program approved in 2008 as well as California’s Cap-and-Trade Program, which is the Golden State’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.The recent request for approval of further funding will likely be a cash grab before the new oversight agency, the Department of Government Efficiency, starts under the new Trump Administration on January 20. President Trump, along with his appointed heads of the department, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, have made their intentions to gut the high-speed rail project, calling it a “wasteful vanity project.”On the X account for DOGE, a recent post highlighted the lack of advancement of the project, which was first approved in 2008, and how projected costs have ballooned.“Originally projected (in 2008) to cost $33 billion; now projected to cost between $88.5 and $127.9 billion,” the post on the official account for DOGE reads, citing a February report from the California High-Speed Rail Authority. “Estimated completion date was 2020; as of 2024, zero passengers have been transported, and the majority has not even been fully designed.”In comparison, Communist China started working on its nationwide high-speed rail system one year before the California project was first approved. It now has the world’s largest rail network, with nearly 6,000 miles of functioning high-speed rail track and another 8,799 miles of line under construction.Earlier this month, a Republican congressman from California, Kevin Kiley, announced new legislation aiming to officially spike the project once and for all.“California’s high-speed rail project has failed because of political ineptitude, and there is no plausible scenario where the cost to federal or state taxpayers can be justified,” Mr. Kiley said. “Our share of federal transportation funding should go towards real infrastructure needs, such as improving roads that rank among the worst in the country.”He also spoke out against the recent request of his Democratic colleagues.“A small group of CA Democrats is asking Biden to send even more money for High-Speed Rail,” he said in a post on X. “They want another $556 million, calling it ‘essential,’ before Congress can pass my bill to deny further funding.”“If Biden complies, we will make sure that the grant is promptly revoked,” Mr. Kiley said.

California Democrats Race Against Time for More High-Speed Rail Funding

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