President Trump is a man of his word. He promised many things during the campaign and has delivered on most.
And where he has not fully delivered, he has made serious progress towards his goals. He promised to end one of Obama’s biggest blunders and he just pulled the trigger.
From Stars and Stripes: The Trump administration on Thursday followed through with its plan to pull more than $900 million in federal funds from California’s beleaguered high-speed rail project.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said California officials “failed to make reasonable progress” and had not met federal requirements for the project. The decision is consistent with President Donald Trump’s penchant for sparring with leaders of the liberal-leaning state.
After Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in February proposed reducing the scope of the rail project, Trump tweeted that the project was a “green disaster” that “wasted many billions of dollars.”
“They owe the Federal Government three and a half-billion dollars,” Trump tweeted.
In addition to revoking the federal government’s agreement to contribute $929 million to the project, the administration on Thursday said it “continues to consider all options regarding the return of $2.5 billion” in stimulus funds.
California officials have previously said Trump’s move to pull federal funding from the project was “political retribution” against the state opposition to Trump’s promised border wall.
In February, Trump tweeted: “California, the state that has wasted billions of dollars on their out of control Fast Train, with no hope of completion, seems in charge” of efforts by a number of states to oppose the wall.
From CNBC: The Federal Railroad Administration announced Thursday that it terminated a nearly $929 million grant to the California High-Sped Rail Authority as part of a 2010 agreement.
In a release, the FRA — part of the U.S. Department of Transportation — said California’s rail authority “repeatedly failed to comply with the terms of the FY10 agreement and has failed to make reasonable progress on the project. Additionally, California has abandoned its original vision of a high-speed passenger rail service connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles, which was essential to its applications for FRA grant funding.”
In addition, the FRA said it “continues to consider all options regarding the return of $2.5 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds awarded to CHSRA.”
In February, President Donald Trump called for California to return $3.5 billion in federal funds for the high-speed rail line planned between the San Francisco and Los Angeles. The DOT followed by announcing its intention to cancel $929 million in grant funds awarded previously but not yet paid out.
Trump’s call for the return of money followed Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom at his first state of the state address on Feb. 12 announcing a reeling in of the state’s high-speed rail project, saying the current plan “would cost too much and take too long.” He added, “There simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to LA.”
