{"id":43098,"date":"2025-06-04T14:43:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T19:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=43098"},"modified":"2025-06-04T20:50:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T01:50:20","slug":"duffy-threatens-to-pull-californias-high-speed-rail-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=43098","title":{"rendered":"Duffy threatens to pull California\u2019s high speed rail funding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Trump administration notified California officials Wednesday<\/u><\/a> that federal funding for the state\u2019s massive high-speed rail project is at risk of being pulled after a four-month review concluded the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has \u201cno viable path\u201d to complete the project on time or on budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCHSRA is on notice \u2014 If they can\u2019t deliver on their end of the deal, it could soon be time for these funds to flow to other projects that can achieve President Trump\u2019s\u2002<\/u><\/a>vision of building great, big, beautiful things again,\u201d Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy\u2002<\/u><\/a>said in a statement in the Federal Railroad Administration\u2019s (FRA) 310-page compliance review<\/u><\/a>. \u201cOur country deserves high-speed rail that makes us proud \u2013 not boondoggle trains to nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has given the CHSRA \u201cup to 37 days\u201d to respond before it moves forward with terminating two grants worth roughly $4 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A CHSRA spokesperson told The Hill that the state agency \u201cstrongly disagrees\u201d with the federal government\u2019s assessment of the project\u2019s progress, noting that most of the money for the high-speed rail system is coming from the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe remain firmly committed to completing the nation\u2019s first true high-speed rail system connecting the major population centers in the state,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cTo that end, the Governor\u2019s budget proposal, which is currently before the Legislature, extends at least $1 billion per year in funding for the next 20 years, providing the necessary resources to complete the project\u2019s initial operating segment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2002<\/u><\/a>(D) addressed concerns about the project\u2019s future under the Trump administration during a news conference<\/u><\/a> in Sacramento last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can see the progress we\u2019ve actually made with our high-speed rail system,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cWe\u2019re now on the other side of the environmental reviews; we\u2019re on the other side of the land acquisition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re now on the other side, and we want to get this done,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FRA report highlighted the project\u2019s change in scope since its initial approval in 2008 under then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe purpose of the Federal commitment was clear: to facilitate the delivery of true high-speed rail and serve as a catalyst for future deployment of high-speed rail beyond California,\u201d FRA acting Administrator Drew Feeley wrote in a letter<\/u><\/a> to CHSRA officials. \u201cFRA cannot continue to commit taxpayer dollars to CHSRA\u2019s Sisyphean endeavor, which now stands as a fraction of what was promised back in 2008.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn short, the CHSR project is a story of broken promises and of waste of Federal taxpayer dollars,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, he wrote that the federal government is not seeking reimbursement from the state \u201cat this time\u201d for money already distributed but noted the FRA \u201creserves the right to do so consistent with applicable law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CHSRA spokesperson said the state plans to \u201cfully address and correct the record in our formal response.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duffy launched the review of California\u2019s high-speed rail project shortly after he was confirmed for as Transportation chief in February. According to the DOT, the investigation\u2019s findings were based on discussions with state oversight and CHSRA officials, construction site visits, a risk analysis and reviews of \u201cseveral thousand documents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It cited numerous change orders, increased costs, missed deadlines, funding gaps, construction delays, and questions about ridership projections among the most severe concerns raised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

thehill<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration notified California officials Wednesday that federal funding for the state\u2019s massive high-speed rail project is at risk of being pulled after a four-month review concluded the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has \u201cno viable path\u201d to complete the project on time or on budget. \u201cCHSRA is on notice \u2014 If they can\u2019t deliver on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":43099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1189,33531,32024,33530,4780],"class_list":["post-43098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-california","tag-chsra","tag-dot","tag-duffy","tag-funding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43100,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43098\/revisions\/43100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}