Democrats in California demand that government approve funding for high-speed road before DOGE rejects the “booondoggle.”

A grant program for$ 536 million in federal cash is being sought by some prominent California Democrats in order to move forward with the country’s long-awaited high-speed road network. The money may be made from funds that have already been made available through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024 and already allocated in general to “federal-state partnerships ] for transcontinental passenger rail offers. Democrats urged Secretary Pete Buttigieg to review the money, saying development on the” California Phase I Corridor” is “essential to enhancing our world’s and California’s corporate travel network opportunities”. ” The Phase 1 Corridor aims to address climate issues, promote health, enhance access and connectivity, and boost financial power, while addressing recent bridge and rail capacity boundaries”, a letter to the cheerful Cabinet part read. The letter, written by California Democratic Reps. Jim Costa, Zoe Lofgren, and Pete Aguilar, includes a request for the money to go toward two jobs in certain: drilling through the Tehachapi Mountains in Southern California and the Pacheco Pass of the Diablo Mountains in Northern California. Schiff and the other lawmakers wrote,” These investments may continue to support living income jobs, provide small business opportunities, and equally increase the flexibility of communities in need– including underprivileged agricultural communities,” while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They asked Buttigieg,” Please take into account the enormous value and significant impact that FSP-National grant funding will bring to the advancement of CAHSR beyond the Central Valley.” The bores are needed, the lawmakers said, to connect with other intercity passenger rail systems including the Brightline West, CalTrain, Metrolink and Altamont Commuter Express. FLASHBACK: COMER TOUTS HUNTER BIDEN HEARING: RASKIN, SCHIFF ‘ PULL STUFF OUT OF THEIRREAR’According to California Republicans, the overall high-speed rail project is nearly$ 100 billion over budget and decades behind schedule. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the DOGE duo of Trump, oppose continuing to fund what many Republicans believe to be a costly and unproductive endeavor. Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., said as much earlier this month in remarks on the House floor. The newly formed Department of Government Efficiency has focused on California’s high-speed-rail boondoggle, which is perhaps the single most notable instance of government waste in American history, according to Kiley. In a tweet from November, the official DOGE X account also provided details about California’s high-speed rail expenditures and funding requests. Ramaswamy also lamented President Biden’s decision to reverse the plans, calling them a “wasteful vanity project” that burned “billions in taxpayer cash with little chance of completion in the next decade.” ” Time to end the waste”, Ramaswamy said. California’s top state Senate Republican echoed the DOGE leaders ‘ concerns. ” California’s ‘ train to nowhere’ has already wasted billions of taxpayer dollars – now Biden wants all Americans to fund this boondoggle”, State Sen. Brian W. Jones of San Diego told Fox News Digital. ” President Trump must defund the high-speed rail when he takes office in a few weeks. He continued,” This wasteful government experiment must end completely.” If approved, the federal funds will be bolstered by$ 134 million in state monies from California’s” cap &amp, trade” program, according to the Sacramento Bee. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPAt a 2013 conference, Musk floated the idea of a “hyperloop” which was also presented in a white paper. Musk claimed at the time that he had considered whether there is a more efficient route between Los Angeles and San Francisco than what California had suggested, despite the fact that it has not yet been realized. He claimed that the proposed high-speed rail would be the slowest bullet train in the world and the most expensive per mile. ” Isn’t there something better that we can come up with” ?The world’s richest man described Hyperloop at the time as a combination of a Concorde, a rail gun and an air-hockey table.