LOS ANGELES – US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday (Thursday Manila time) that his administration was cutting billions in federal funding for the construction of a high-speed rail line in California, a project beset by delays.
The Republican had previously signaled his opposition to the project, launched 15 years ago to build a high-speed train connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“Not a SINGLE penny in Federal Dollars will go towards this Newscum SCAM ever again,” he posted on social media, using a pejorative name for California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and bitter political rival of the US president.
“This was an ill-conceived and unnecessary project, and a total waste of Taxpayer money,” said Trump.
Launched in 2008, the project to connect the two main cities of the country’s most populous state has seen numerous delays and overshot budgets.
Trump had earlier canceled federal funding for the project in his first term, but the move was suspended after California challenged it in court.
When Democrat Joe Biden was elected president in 2020, he restored the funds.
Trump returned to office in January, and in June, his administration threatened to cancel $4 billion in funding for the project after a report by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) concluded that the initial section of the line would not be completed by a 2033 deadline.
“Governor Newsom and California’s high speed rail boondoggle are the definition of government incompetence and possibly corruption,” said US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a post on social media.
