Padilla, Schiff Blast Trump Admin’s Plan to Gut California High-Speed Rail Funding
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (both D-Calif.) released the following joint statement after Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced his plan to terminate billions of dollars of previously-allocated federal funding to the California High-Speed Rail Project:
“In Donald Trump’s corrupt world, there’s no need for high-speed rail when you can accept a $400 million jet from a foreign government. But for the millions of Californians left to pick up the tab for Trump’s reckless trade wars and rising costs of living, today’s announcement is devastating.
“High-speed rail is the future of transportation — with the potential to bring customers to new businesses, businesses to new employees, and to connect communities hundreds of miles away with affordable and faster transit. The fact is that the California High-Speed Rail Project is already the most audited public works project in the country. Rather than advance the progress being made in the Central Valley, Secretary Duffy has used a review process to appease President Trump and punish Californians who didn’t vote for him. We’ll keep fighting every partisan, self-defeating policy of this Administration as we build infrastructure fit for the 21st century.”
Last year, Senators Padilla and Schiff and their California Congressional colleagues urged former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to approve the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s grant application for $536 million in federal funds. Padilla previously supported the Department of Transportation’s announcement of $3.1 billion for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, as well as over $200 million for the agency from the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Grant Program. Padilla and the late Senator Dianne Feinstein previously announced $25 million for the Authority’s Merced Extension Design Project through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program.
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