Calif. Dems Beg Buttigieg to Save High-Speed Rail Boondoggle From DOGE and Trump, Dump Money on Project

As President Joe Biden’s administration has one foot out the door and the Republicans are set to take control of both houses of Congress and the White House — with a new era of government efficiency to come with it — California Democrats are desperate for a cash infusion into their high-speed rail boondoggle before the gravy train leaves town.

And they’re counting on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to be a belated Santa Claus for them.

According to a Dec. 23 article in The Sacramento Bee, both of California’s elected senators and three Democrat representatives sent Buttigieg a letter Dec. 20 begging for $536 million in funding for the $135 billion project before the Trump administration comes back again.

“Advancing progress on the California Phase 1 Corridor is essential for enhancing our nation’s and California’s strategic transportation network investments,” the letter from incoming Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, and Reps. Pete Aguilar, Jim Costa and Zoe Lofgren read.

The application, the letter said, “aims to support the next stage of design for the first two segments in a sequence of design sections that have been environmentally cleared” by the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

The high-speed rail project between Los Angeles and San Francisco was initially approved in 2008 via referendum and broke ground in 2012, as The New York Times reported in 2022.

The number of miles built and operational? Zero. The number of miles built and operational in December of 2024? I know this will amaze you again, but also: Zero.

But the project has been making progress in one arena: It’s already $100 billion over budget, which means it’ll cost roughly between four and five times initial projections, according to the Los Angeles Times.

As California-centric conservative outlet The Center Square noted, this boondoggle has come under fire from the incoming Trump administration, particularly a certain entity fronted by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

“Once complete, the project is supposed to carry passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in under three hours, with one-way tickets priced at $86. It’s unclear how competitive this will be with air travel; one-way flights booked more than two weeks in advance currently cost $59 on Southwest, which includes two checked bags,” the Center Square reported on Christmas Eve.

“The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), proposed by the incoming Trump administration, aims to reduce what it views as wasteful government spending, recently spotlighted the project, and Congressmen Kevin Kiley, R-California, announced his bill to eliminate federal funding for the endeavor. Amid the state’s financial foes, a pause or withdrawal of federal funding could leave the state with no choice but to put the project on hold.”

So, California wants a last-minute dollar-drop into the Golden State “to complete a 30%, or preliminary, design of one tunnel in Southern California and one tunnel in Northern California,” the Center Square reported.

This is part of the environmentally cleared portion of the project, which includes the Bakersfield-to-Palmdale and the Gilroy-to-Central Valley Wye routes.

“By preparing for future final design and construction of complex tunnels in this corridor, the Project will advance both state and federal goals to improve safety, expand economic strength and global competitiveness, address equity issues, and implement sustainability practices to confront climate change,” the letter read.

“These investments will continue to support living wage jobs, provide small business opportunities, and equitably enhance the mobility of communities in need – including disadvantaged agricultural communities – all while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

If that isn’t the best farrago of laundry-list lefty items that voters soundly rejected at the ballot box this November ever assembled, I don’t know what is. They even managed to work “equity” into rail, somehow! Apparently, “equity” means “being decades behind schedule and a hundred billion over budget.” Good to finally get an accurate definition on that.

Also, about that “greenhouse gases” thing? From the Center Square: “In 2012, the state legislative analyst’s office found the bullet train would increase overall greenhouse gas emissions for the first 30 years of its operation, putting the project’s emissions impact — and state funding based on emissions reductions — into question.”

Keep in mind, that was before endless delays and stop-and-start construction. In the wake of the move, Kiley went on X and promised a GOP Congress would halt any spending the Department of Transportation promised under Buttigieg.

A small group of CA Democrats is asking Biden to send even more money for High-Speed Rail. They want another $556 million, calling it “essential,” before Congress can pass my bill to deny further funding.

If Biden complies, we will make sure that the grant is promptly revoked.

— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) December 22, 2024

However, if the Biden administration gives California this parting gift — and, as we all know, Secretary Pete loves him some trains — there would be problems stopping that as well as the government unilaterally cutting off funding already pledged, particularly court challenges.

It would be the most Biden-y thing an outgoing Biden administration cabinet member could do: gift California’s flailing, failing, and needless rail boondoggle a leg up on DOGE by sending more tax dollars their way despite the project’s profligacy and with no introduction of service in sight.

After all, Uncle Joe loved him 1) the choo-choos and 2) spending your cash in ways that you wouldn’t approve of. What better way to celebrate the end of this sorry administration than pouring tax dollars down California’s throat for a rail project to nowhere?

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