Posted on 05/23/2019 7:23:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The state of California wants the rest of America to pay for their high-speed rail boondoggle and they're willing to sue Washington to get it.
Recently, the Trump administration canceled a $1 billion federal grant to the state that would have helped fund the high-speed rail project so beloved by California politicians. But Governor Gavin Newsom says that the cancellation had more to do with politics than anything else. The suit claims the feds nixed the grant due to "political retribution" for the state's opposition to border wall funding. The state will also file a request for a temporary restraining order to prevent the government from spending the money in anything else -- including, Trump's border wall.
The Federal Railroad Administration basically says that's ludicrous.
From NPR:
In a statement released Thursday, the Federal Railroad Administration says California has "repeatedly failed to comply" with the agreement and "failed to make reasonable progress on the project."
It adds that the state has "abandoned its original vision of a high-speed passenger rail service connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles, which was essential to its applications for FRA grant funding." The statement also said the FRA was still exploring "all options" to get back $2.5 billion in federal funds it had already awarded for the project from the state.
One of the major reasons California got the grant in the first place was to build an LA-San Francisco rail line -- a project that has been all but abandoned due to massive cost overruns and intolerable delays.
Newsom's attempt to accuse the administration of political revenge isn't going to work. He has much bigger problems with the project.
From Mercury News:
It’s not the federal withholding of funds that will doom this project; it’s the decade of lies and deception from Gov. Jerry Brown and the California High-Speed Rail Authority. They continued pushing ahead knowing full well that there was no sign of the private investment so critical to making the project pencil out.
If the governor is serious about protecting the state’s green infrastructure, he should focus on bolstering the commuter rail lines within the state’s urban cores, rather than going to the mat for a sprawl-inducing bullet train.
As for his concerns about workers who will lose jobs, that ignores that the federal funds will produce employment opportunities wherever it’s spent. The administration has a responsibility to spend the money for the best projects across the nation, not the ones that bolster jobs in this state.
Which seems obvious except for California's arrogant assumption that the nation's taxpayers should be required to support every white elephant that the state's politicians can dream up.
Whining about being singled out for political retribution won't help their case. In fact, If I were Newsom, I'd start thinking about a strategy to prevent Washington from recovering the other $2.5 billion of federal dollars that California politicians wasted on the project.
Get bent, Commies.
CA isn’t going to built the train.
But they want the money to build the train.
Because housing illegal aliens is expensive.
Fat Chance!!
Pretty standard with Fed transportation aid. If you deviate from your application, without approved amendments, then the feds will get those funds back.
Taking odds they’ll find some Obama judge (does anyone but John Roberts still think they don’t exist?) to find a constitutional right to the $1 billion because, uh, well, California wants it and Trump doesn’t want to give it. There, it’s in Federalist No. 201 1/3.
They have already won. Some Obama appointed judge will rule against Trump. It’s a daily occurrence. The judiciary exists as a permanent government to keep in place liberal policies out in place with the pen and phone.
Did I miss something? Gavin Newsom canceled the project, and even if he didn’t, they weren’t to going to meet the 2021 deadline. So......What the Hell is wrong with my state????
But CA can ignore Fed law on immigration while AZ was smacked down for enforcing it.
Gov Newscum soured on the rail project before he
was inaugurated. He still needs to pay some bills
but more likely he wants many to spend in ways to make
himself look good.
Since politics was the sole reason for granting the funds in the first place, it’s appropriate that the cancellation also be due to politics. It’s safe to say that almost everything that happens in the state is related to politics.
The state also plans to file for a ‘temporary restraining order blocking the administration’ from awarding the money to another project.
Hypocrisy should not be rewarded by us in the non-California USA.
Heard today that Tesla and GM money losing electric cars are subsidized by our taxes but something like 60-70% of the cars are in California. All the cars lose money for the companies. Average Tesla owner makes over $200,000 a year. Cost of 2-3 hundred dollars is added to all the other states' car prices to pay for it.
Other states aren't having fun,fun, fun in the California sun. I'll take my money back now.
Even if it’s true so what? Political retribution isn’t illegal.
Advice to White House: CANCEL the spending. Do it ASAP.
Heck when the first shovel hit the ground in Fresno they were already 3 years behind schedule!...By 2018 they were 13 years behind schedule!
Additionally The California State Auditor’s office released a report criticizing the Rail Authority for “flawed decision making” and “poor contract management” that have led to billions of dollars of cost overruns.... The agency has faced criticism before for its lack of technical expertise and questionable contractor oversight.
No, the proper argument is that California's leaders have broken their contract with the Fed as far as the boondoggle(and that's a much kinder word than we here in California use)is concerned. It was never a good idea before, just a huge piece of crap that Brown could have his name on. As it is planned now it truly is a train from nowhere anyone wants to be to nowhere anybody wants to go.
Feb 12, 2019....California bullet train cost hiked by billions of dollars so Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he waas pulling the plug on the state's massive high-speed rail project from Los Angeles to San Francisco that was more than a decade behind schedule and billions in the red.
Come on. Everyone knows that high-speed rail between Bakersfield and Merced is in the entire nation’s interest.
Discovery of where they spent the other 1.5 billion will be interesting. They should have to officially account for every last penny they used.
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