On Wednesday, the Trump administration revoked $4 billion in federal funds for the California high-speed rail project.
“Federal dollars are not a blank check – they come with a promise to deliver results. After over a decade of failures, [California High Speed Rail Authority’s] mismanagement and incompetence has proven it cannot build its train to nowhere on time or on budget,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy in a statement. “It’s time for this boondoggle to die.”
Amen to that.
The move follows a compliance review from the Federal Railroad Administration which noted many problems familiar to anyone who has followed the bullet train over the years.
This includes the project missing deadlines, lacking a clear funding plan and a litany of excuses and overpromises from the rail authority.
“The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will,” the president wrote on Truth Social in his inimitable style. “This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED.”
On this, Trump is certainly and obviously correct. California voters were told more than 15 years ago they would be able to take a high-speed train from Los Angeles to San Francisco by now and for at most a few tens of billions of dollars. Now, Californians are being told they might be able to take a high-speed train from Bakersfield to Merced by 2033. Naturally, the cost of the project has ballooned by multiples along the way.
The California high-speed rail project is a sham and should have been stopped many years ago. Alas, Gov. Gavin Newsom just can’t let go of it.
“Trump’s termination of federal grants for California high-speed rail reeks of politics. It’s yet another political stunt to punish California,” Newsom said in a statement. “In reality, this is just a heartless attack on the Central Valley that will put real jobs and livelihoods on the line. We’re suing to stop Trump from derailing America’s only high-speed rail actively under construction.”
As usual, Newsom retreated to the frivolous argument the project creates jobs. But taxpayers are under no obligation to continue supporting a government boondoggle merely because it creates jobs.
Californians wanted a high-speed rail project under specific terms, and government proved incapable of getting it done.
By defending the high-speed rail project at this point, Newsom is demonstrating an inability to discern what a wasteful boondoggle is. If he can’t see that, why trust his judgment on anything?