California has sued the Trump administration 46 times, most recently in opposition to the president’s declaration of a national emergency to provide funding for a border wall. The suit was announced on February 18. One day later, the administration said it would seek to cancel a $929 million grant and retrieve $2.5 billion already provided to California for the rail project. Gov. Gavin Newsom responded in a statement, “This is clear political retribution by President Trump, and we won’t sit idly by.”
The state and the White House are also embroiled in a battle over an administration plan to strip California of its right to set separate auto emissions standards, authority it has held for decades. Talks broke down this week when federal officials walked away from negotiations.
Support for the California high speed train has traditionally split along party lines. In 2011, Rep. Jeff Denham and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, both California Republicans, attempted to halt $3.3 billion designated for the project and the following year sought to block any new funding. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama worked to keep high speed rail alive during his tenure.
Soon after Trump took office, the U.S. Department of Transportation sought to deny funding to Caltrain for electrification from San Jose to San Francisco. It was seen as a thinly-veiled effort by the White House to kill the high speed train, which would use Caltrain tracks into the Bay Area.
Then-chairman of the California High Speed Rail Authority Dan Richard took the unusual step of publicly calling out California’s GOP congressional delegation, all 14 members of which had asked Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to withhold the grant. “This was an unbelievable, irresponsible act on the part of these members of Congress,” said Richard. The funds were later released.
The Associated Press reports that a conservative radio host from San Diego, Carl DeMaio, plans to introduce a measure on the 2020 California ballot to stop the high speed train. DeMaio heads the Reform California political action committee, which states on its website that “the High Speed Rail boondoggle should be cancelled and all funds transferred to road repairs.”
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a public policy professor at the University of Southern California, is quoted by the AP as believing “that it’s an issue that’s being used because Trump doesn’t generate turnout” in California and would therefore send more Republican voters to the polls. DeMaio denied that assessment.
Politico calls the fallout from Gov. Newsom’s plan to scale back the rail project “a tailor-made campaign issue for Trump.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom should have kept his big mouth shut regarding the California High Speed Rail Authority while delivering the State of the State Address. Now there is an even greater setback on the project which is over budget, I’ll-planned and more than a decade late in development.
With the right-of-way already in place through the Central Valley, the best hope is for a private entity like Virgin Trains USA or Texas Central Partners to take over the project where the State of California has fallen short. Building the first transcontinental railway did not take this long.
Well Charles you called it correctly. They really do believe they are solvent and doing us all a favor. Kind of a ‘tail wagging the dog’ deal. High speed rail across state lines would be something the Fed’s. should consider, not a railroad ‘Of California, for California, by the other 49 states’. If you wish to connect L.A. and Phoenix, maybe I’ll get on board, but not just an intrastate, (doesn’t cross state lines), railroad. If Michigan wants to do high speed from Detroit to Grand Rapids, no reason to, then Michigan should pay for it, not the other 49, including Ca.
OK, I know that it is not worth my time responding to the original commenter, but the 49 other states don’t support California. According to the January 14, 2019 issue of Business Insider, the Golden State contributes $14 billion more in taxes than it receives back in services. That is $348 on a per capita basis. Maybe Charles is thinking of Mississippi, which receives $23 billion more in federal services than it pays in taxes ($7,902 per capita).
California brings us nice beaches, great skiing, a wide range of educational and employment opportunities, and high paid jobs. I’m not that familiar with Mississippi, but I’m sure that its citizens are proud of many things in their state too.
Tired conservative talking points in a passenger rail news item is certainly getting old.
I doubt the Republicans would waste any time in California. They’re not THAT stupid. Clinton got 61% of the vote. Any non-criminal-grifter should be able to do better than that against Trump.
Yeah, this article says it all. California sues the United States with the same frequency the sun rises. But if US sues California only once, that’s just not fair.
It’s time to let California go. If California is at rich as it thinks it is (and as a certain person who posts in these comment sections insist it is) then let them go. We’d be better off without them. As wealthy as California thinks it is, without the other 49 states supporting it California will sink in a week.
I’d say the same about New York State except I’d miss the scenery.