In a devastating blow to the far-left state of California, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and President Trump have decided to cancel $4 billion in federal funding for California’s high-speed rail project, following a Department of Transportation review.
For context, the high-speed rail project has become infamous for more mismanagement and cost overruns. The DoT has given the California High-Speed Rail Authority 30–37 days to respond to their messages. However, Democrats, such as State Senator Scott Wiener, have protested the move.
In any case, the transportation secretary said, “We have $4 billion that has been authorized to go to California to build this project and we don’t want to invest in boondoggles. We’re gonna give them 30 days to respond to us … if they don’t make a good case, we’re gonna take that money back,” adding, “CHSRA relied on the false hope of an unending spigot of Federal taxpayer dollars.”
Objecting to the sensible section, State Rep Scott Wiener said, “[They’ve] been laying the groundwork for this for month[s]. They’re completely hostile, not just to California high-speed rail, but rail in general and public transportation.”
Continuing his biased response, Weiner whined, “This is a Neanderthal administration that probably thinks public transportation is a Communist plot. [It will] certainly be a setback… it is a relatively small percentage of the overall budget of the project. It’s not a death knell.”
In a post to X, which was made on June 4, 2025, Sean Duffy said, “California’s high-speed rail has all the marks of a boondoggle:- $16 billion spent- 17 years gone- No high-speed track laid. We have put California on notice: If you can’t deliver, American taxpayers will not fund your train to nowhere.”
Attached to his post was a clip of the Transportation Secretary explaining the issue of Fox News. He said, “The timelines in the budget for the California High Speed Rail are that they can’t meet them, right? And so we have $4 billion that has been authorized to go to California to build this project, and we don’t want to invest in boondoggles.”
Offering more context, he stated, “And so we basically found that they’re not going to be able to complete the project, which I think all of Californians and all Americans knew, but we’re going to give them 30 days to respond to us. If they think we’re wrong, we’ll hear them out. But after that, if they don’t make a good case, we’re going to take that money back.”
Expalinging his nuaced view, Dufft explained, “You know, I want to see high speed rail in America… you go to Europe, they have high speed rail everywhere, and it works why it can’t be built in America and why it can’t be built within you know, you know, time frames that work for for the people that invest in these projects, makes no sense to me.”
Watch the clip here:
Expalining trump’s vision for America, he declared, “We’ll look for good projects to invest in. This does not appear to be one of them. Not one high-speed track has been laid. And we’re $16 billion in 17 years into the project. And again, this has all the markings of a boondoggle.”
Featured image from embedded video
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