FRESNO, CA (KMJ) Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) announced plans this week he intends to introduce a bill to eliminate federal funding for the troubled California High-Speed Rail project citing it’s $100 Billion funding gap.
The Department of Government Efficiency recently highlighted the project’s substantial delays and cost overruns, along with the $6.8 billion in federal funding it has received and the $8 billion in additional funding that has been requested.
Kiley’s bill would make the project ineligible for any further federal funding.
Coincidentally, here in Fresno, a groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday by the California High Speed Rail Authority at Golden State Blvd and McKinley Ave. This part of the project in west Fresno is expected to bring a four-lane roadway and pedestrian bridge.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and other dignitaries attended the event.
Despite ongoing delays and funding hiccups, The HSR Authority continues to tout the dozens of active construction sites in the Central Valley which they say has generated more than 14,000 jobs.
But Rep. Kiley is fed up saying, “California’s high-speed rail project has failed because of political ineptitude, and there is no plausible scenario where the cost to federal or state taxpayers can be justified”. “Our share of federal transportation funding should go towards real infrastructure needs, such as improving roads that rank among the worst in the country.”
