EXCLUSIVE — , Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said California’s “waste” of a high-speed bridge project is discouraging the development of the tech somewhere in the United States, in a major black-eye for progressive proponents.
In one of Duffy’s first acts as a member of Trump’s Cabinet, the Federal Railroad Administration opened up an investigation into the California High-Speed Rail Authority to determine whether the nearly$ 4 billion in taxpayer dollars should be clawed back after California blew through its 2020 completion date and suffered from major cost overruns.
And while California has sought to be the first state to start a book high-speed road initiative from San Francisco to Los Angeles, Duffy said the Democratic-run Golden State has been the “opposite” of a “model” for another.
” Look what happened in California. It’s a waste of money. I want to engage in great projects. The progressive thinking, who wants high-speed road, you may believe they would want to do it really, really also, and they do it like s***”, Duffy said. ” And the question is, why? I don’t understand.
” You should try to offer people on your ideas, certainly make them come,’ These are dark holes where people get rich and projects don’t obtain built,'” Duffy added.
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Newsom backs the job, saying in January at a bridge event that” No state in America is closer to launching high-speed road than California. ” Pelosi, whose hometown legacy in San Francisco is also under assault by President Donald Trump, secured federal funding for the project under former President Joe Biden, saying California’s” bullet trains “will” help save our planet” with a greener transportation option.
But the project has since grown in scope with a focus on the Merced-to-Bakersfield sector and it could grind to a block with a lack of federal assistance, especially after a state examination recently found the embattled job needs at least$ 7 billion to move forward.
While Duffy believes in high-speed bridge, which has flourished in other countries, he questions why California has had so much difficulty while the privately-run Brightline West is making headway to commence high-speed rail services between the Los Angeles area and Las Vegas in 2028.
The Pelosi-backed San Francisco to Los Angeles task was originally supposed to be completed by 2020 and cost$ 33 billion, but presently Duffy said the price is” upward of$ 130 billion.”
” California doesn’t have the funds. I can’t think the DOT is going to give them extra money,” Duffy said”. They don’t even have a time window and when this had been completed.”
Hardy sat for a half-hour meeting with the , Washington Examiner , on Thursday, covering a range of topics like Transportation’s force to develop automated drivers and delivery technologies, the Department of Government Efficiency, fallout from January’s dangerous Washington, D. C., plane crash, and more.
SEAN DUFFY SEEMS PRETTY HAPPY HEWASN’T INVITED TO THAT SIGNAL GROUP CHAT
You can read , the Washington Examiner’s exclusive interview with Duffy in full on Monday.
