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President Donald Trump is asking for an audit that might kill California’s high-speed rail proposal, which has been round for almost twenty years and has made little or no progress.
Many union employees who rely on the federal lifeline turned out to Union Station in Los Angeles on Thursday to throw tomatoes and heckle Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, as his division will lead the cost of determining how the funds are being utilized.
“It has been 17 years and $16 billion and no rail has been constructed,” Duffy mentioned whereas the protesters have been within the room reacting to his feedback.
CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS URGE FEDS TO APPROVE HIGH-SPEED RAIL FUNDING BEFORE DOGE NIXES ‘BOONDOGGLE’
Sean Duffy arrives for a gathering with Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer about his nomination to guide the Division of Transportation, Dec. 10, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg through Getty Photos)
“So, if you wish to go protest someplace, if you wish to go shout at somebody, go to the governor’s mansion – go discuss to Democrats within the legislature who’ve introduced us this crappy undertaking,” he added.
Particularly, the secretary needs to research if there have been any shady enterprise dealings tied with the rail undertaking’s failure to this point. As of January, the state was touting a small growth within the undertaking’s Bakersfield part.
“No state in America is nearer to launching high-speed rail than California – and at this time, we simply took a large step ahead. We’re transferring into the track-laying section, finishing constructions for key segments, and laying the groundwork for a high-speed rail community,” Gov. Gavin Newsom mentioned in an announcement final month.
“The way forward for transportation is being realized proper right here within the Central Valley with 1000’s of good-paying jobs already created and 171 miles being labored on. As solely California can, we’re constructing America’s largest infrastructure undertaking,” he added.
Federal taxpayers spent virtually $3 billion on the undertaking – with one other $4 billion promised by, however not already spent, from President Joe Biden. The audit may present Trump with the authorized authority to claw that cash again.
Nonetheless, there’s virtually nothing to indicate for the undertaking, which is projected to value $106 billion to attain its last purpose of stretching from Los Angeles to San Francisco, in line with the Related Press. Proponents have argued that the rail would make California, one of many nation’s largest states, extra linked.
TRUMP SUPPORTING CALIFORNIA SHERIFF LAUNCHES REPUBLICAN RUN FOR GOVERNOR IN RACE TO SUCCEED NEWSOM
Ongoing building of the California bullet practice undertaking is photographed in Corcoran, California, left, and Hanford, California, proper. (Getty Photos)
Congressman Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., is happy to see the undertaking getting federal consideration.
“Now we have been preventing in opposition to this disastrous undertaking for years, and now, because of Secretary Duffy and President Trump, we lastly have a chance to hopefully convey it to an finish,” he advised Fox Information Digital.
“I am unsure why anybody could be in favor of what is going on on in California. We’re losing taxpayer cash in a very, simply on an epic scale and never getting something in return for it,” he added.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley (Getty Photos)
As well as, Congresswoman Younger Kim, R-Calif., argued “it is about time” for accountability on the undertaking.
“We’ll see if this investigation results in discovering any fraud and waste. If there’s fraud, I do know it could most likely be within the areas of whether or not or not the contractors, subcontractors, the designer, the builders, anybody who’s concerned with the high-speed rail undertaking is in some way concerned on this course of,” she mentioned.
Cameron Arcand is a politics author at Fox Information Digital in Washington D.C. Story ideas might be despatched to [email protected] and on Twitter: @cameron_arcand
