New DOT chief targets CA HSR
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that California’s High-Speed Rail boondoggle will undergo a review to determine whether about $4 billion in federal funds should continue to go toward the project. Townhall reports.
The announcement came after California Republicans requested the federal government to step in and investigate the project.
"We're going to look at whether the California High Speed Rail Authority has actually complied with the agreements that they've signed with the federal government," Duffy said. "We can't just say we're going to give money and then not hold states accountable to how they spend that money."
The entire San Francisco to Los Angeles project was initially supposed to be completed by 2020 and cost $33 billion. Today, the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment alone would cost more than the original total. The latest estimate for San Francisco to Los Angeles is $106 billion — more than three times the original cost estimate.[...]
The slow progress by CHSRA contrasts with the impressive work of Brightline West to build a high-speed rail system. Brightline West plans to begin service between the Los Angeles region and Las Vegas in 2028.
"The problem is California is still short $6.5 billion," Duffy added. "California doesn't have the money to complete the project, even with the federal promises that were made by the last administration, so the question becomes what do we do? Well, I can't make decisions for the great state of California, but we do have to be responsible for the tax dollars that are spent from the federal government."
Rep. Kevin Kelly (R-CA), who joined Duffy and other GOP officials at the announcement, called the project the "worst public infrastructure failure in U.S. history."
It is a blight on our landscape and an embarrassment to our state. It is a symbol for the decline of modern California, showcasing political ineptitude on an epic scale.
It exemplifies the failures of transparency and accountability, of governance and planning, of vision and leadership, of competence and common sense that have turned the greatest state in the country into the most popular state to leave.
It represents the disregard for taxpayer dollars, for property rights, for democratic accountability, for economic reality, that have caused our beautiful state to lead the nation in all the wrong ways.
Read the whole thing here.
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