Gavin Newsom was fuming after a Trump official gave him this bad news
Gavin Newsom has been trying to avoid bad headlines after the Los Angeles wildfires.
But he’s about to get humiliated nationally again.
And Gavin Newsom was fuming after a Trump official gave him this bad news.
Trump’s Transportation Secretary to investigate California high-speed rail debacle
California voters approved a ballot measure in 2008 to build a high-speed train line between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The project was initially supposed to cost $20 billion and be completed by 2020.
It’s becoming one of the costliest boondoggles in American history.
The price of the project has ballooned to more than $130 billion and rising.
Only 57 miles of train tracks have been built and the project might not be completed until the end of the 2030s, if it ever gets built.
President Donald Trump canceled $1 billion in federal funding for the project that was authorized under former President Barack Obama.
Former President Joe Biden restored the funding and poured $3.3 billion more in taxpayer money down the drain to help California build its high-speed rail line.
Taxpayers forked over billions of dollars for a project in California that will likely never become operational.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced that he was investigating what happened to the federal funding that went into California’s failed high-speed rail project.
“I am directing my staff to review and determine whether the (California High-Speed Rail Authority) has followed through on the commitments it made to receive billions of dollars in federal funding,” Duffy said at a press conference in Los Angeles. “If not, I will have to consider whether that money could be given to deserving infrastructure projects elsewhere in the United States.”
Where did the money go?
California has spent nearly $16 billion to build 57 miles of train tracks in 17 years.
No train has ever run on the tracks that have been built so far.
“Who got the cash? Where did it go?” Duffy said. “$16 billion is a lot of money. It’s going to be a hard stretch to see how that money was spent.”
Duffy told California voters they should demand answers from Governor Gavin Newsom about the mismanaged project.
Representative Kevin Kiley (R-CA), who represents California’s 3rd Congressional District, joined Duffy at the press conference.
He called the California high-speed rail project “the worst public infrastructure failure in U.S. history.”
“There is no plausible scenario where the cost to federal or state taxpayers can be justified,” Kiley said. “It is past time to stop throwing good money after bad, and we must formally end this project.”
Kiley introduced legislation this year in the House to block federal funding from going to the project.
Left-wing protesters tried to interrupt the press conference with chants demanding the project be finished.
“It’s been 17 years and $16 billion and no rail has been built,” Duffy fired back. “So if you want to go protest somewhere. If you want to shout at someone, go to the governor’s mansion. Go talk to Democrats in the Legislature who have brought us this crappy project.”
Gavin Newsom doesn’t want to explain to voters during a potential Presidential campaign how he oversaw one of the biggest wastes of taxpayer money in history.
