Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Military Veteran Rios Challenging Costa for Congress in 2026

24 hours ago

OpenAI to Release Web Browser in Challenge to Google Chrome

24 hours ago

Fuel Shortage Threatens to Turn Gaza’s Biggest Hospital Into Graveyard, Doctors Say

1 day ago

Why Measure C Is Not Measured

1 day ago

California Highway Patrol Makes 1,311 DUI Arrests During Independence Day Weekend

1 day ago

Death Toll Reaches at Least 119 in Texas Floods, With 173 Missing

1 day ago

Nathan Magsig: Why Our Second Amendment Resolution Matters to the People of the Central Valley

1 day ago

Horse Racing May Be Out at Fresno Fair, but New Events Promise to Pack Grandstands

1 day ago

Wall Street Shakes off Tariff Concerns, Nvidia Leaps to $4 Trillion

1 day ago

Who Will Dyer Support as His Successor? We Asked Him.

1 day ago
California: Trump Plan to Take Back Rail Money 'Disastrous'
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
March 4, 2019

Share

SACRAMENTO — Leaders of California’s high-speed rail project told the Trump administration Monday its plans to withhold or claw back $3.5 billion in federal money for the project was “legally indefensible” and “disastrous policy.”

Terminating the money “would cause massive disruption, dislocation, and waste, damaging the region and endangering the future of high-speed rail in California and elsewhere in the nation,” Brian Kelly, the chief executive for the project, wrote in a letter to Jamie Rennert of the Federal Railroad Administration.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he still intends to build the full line, but Trump used his comments to decry the project as a “failure.”

Kelly’s letter is in response to a February threat by the U.S. Department of Transportation to withhold a $929 million grant for the project and possibly take back $2.5 billion in federal money the state has already spent.

Congress and the Obama administration allocated the money almost a decade ago for California to build a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. A segment of the train in the Central Valley is now under construction, and the $3.5 billion is a key piece of its budget.

The threat was an escalation in California’s ongoing feud with the Trump administration. It came after Gov. Gavin Newsom suggested changes to the project in his State of the State address. He said the project as currently planned would cost too much and take too long, and said he wanted to focus first on building a longer line in the Central Valley.

Newsom has since said he still intends to build the full line, but Trump used his comments to decry the project as a “failure.” Newsom said Trump’s call to take back the money was retaliation for the state’s lawsuit against the president’s declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border.

California must meet certain construction and environmental review deadlines by 2022 as part of its agreement with the federal government. Kelly said the state is meeting its obligations and that the vision of the project has not changed.

He said the threat to withhold the roughly $1 billion the state hasn’t yet received was not legally defensible, and that efforts to take back what’s already been spent “disastrous policy.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Froot Loops Maker WK Kellogg Agrees to $3.1 Billion Deal From Italy’s Ferrero

DON'T MISS

China Signals Willingness to Sell Fighter Jets as Iran Eyes J-10 Aircraft

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Man Arrested in Ivanhoe Shooting, Second Suspect Still at Large

DON'T MISS

Tiger-Striped Trixie Is a Pro When It Comes to Taking Cozy Naps

DON'T MISS

Democrats Release Texts, Emails to Boost Claims Trump Nominee Urged Defiance of Courts

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Seek Public’s Help in Finding Missing 16-Year-Old Girl

DON'T MISS

Ford Recalls More Than 850,000 Vehicles in US Over Fuel Pump Defect

DON'T MISS

Walmart Recalls Ozark Trail Bottles After Three Reported Injuries, US Agency Says

DON'T MISS

FEMA Is Holding Up $2.4 Billion in Grants to Fight Terrorism, States Say

DON'T MISS

US Coffee, Orange Juice Prices Could Surge if Trump’s Brazil Tariffs Stick

UP NEXT

US Sanctions UN Expert Critical of Israel’s War in Gaza

UP NEXT

Uber Named Official Rideshare, Delivery Partner for Los Angeles Games

UP NEXT

US Emergency Agency FEMA Should Be ‘Eliminated as It Exists Today,’ Noem Says

UP NEXT

California Highway Patrol Makes 1,311 DUI Arrests During Independence Day Weekend

UP NEXT

Death Toll Reaches at Least 119 in Texas Floods, With 173 Missing

UP NEXT

California Protester Pulls Mask from ICE Agent During San Diego Clash

UP NEXT

Los Angeles Joins ACLU Lawsuit Against Trump’s Immigration Raids

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Sues California Over Transgender Athletes in Schools

UP NEXT

San Luis Obispo’s Madre Fire Near New Cuyama Grows to 80,615 Acres, 35% Contained

UP NEXT

Rescue Teams Find Three More Bodies After Central Texas Floods

Madera County Authorities Seek Next of Kin for North Fork Man

40 minutes ago

Bitcoin Hits Fresh Record High

53 minutes ago

Froot Loops Maker WK Kellogg Agrees to $3.1 Billion Deal From Italy’s Ferrero

2 hours ago

China Signals Willingness to Sell Fighter Jets as Iran Eyes J-10 Aircraft

2 hours ago

Tulare County Man Arrested in Ivanhoe Shooting, Second Suspect Still at Large

2 hours ago

Tiger-Striped Trixie Is a Pro When It Comes to Taking Cozy Naps

2 hours ago

Democrats Release Texts, Emails to Boost Claims Trump Nominee Urged Defiance of Courts

2 hours ago

Fresno Police Seek Public’s Help in Finding Missing 16-Year-Old Girl

2 hours ago

Ford Recalls More Than 850,000 Vehicles in US Over Fuel Pump Defect

2 hours ago

Walmart Recalls Ozark Trail Bottles After Three Reported Injuries, US Agency Says

3 hours ago

Kyiv Received Political Signals for US Aid Resumption, Zelenskiy Says

KYIV – Ukraine has received all necessary political signals for U.S. military aid to resume, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thu...

20 minutes ago

U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 20, 2025. (Reuters File)
20 minutes ago

Kyiv Received Political Signals for US Aid Resumption, Zelenskiy Says

A person walks outside of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services building after it was reported that the HHS will cut about 10,000 full-time jobs and close half of its regional offices, a major overhaul of the department under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 27, 2025. (Reuters/Leah Millis)
24 minutes ago

US Health Department Widens Immigrant Benefit Restrictions

Joshua White was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly stabbing a man multiple times in northeast Fresno. (Fresno PD)
35 minutes ago

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Stabbing That Left Man Critically Injured

40 minutes ago

Madera County Authorities Seek Next of Kin for North Fork Man

Representations of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency are seen in this illustration picture taken June 7, 2021. (Reuters File)
53 minutes ago

Bitcoin Hits Fresh Record High

Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, owned by Kellogg Company, is seen for sale in a store in Queens, New York City, U.S., February 7, 2022. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

Froot Loops Maker WK Kellogg Agrees to $3.1 Billion Deal From Italy’s Ferrero

2 hours ago

China Signals Willingness to Sell Fighter Jets as Iran Eyes J-10 Aircraft

Tulare County deputies arrested Sotero Flores, 47, of Ivanhoe, in connection with a shooting in Ivanhoe that injured a man, while a second suspect, Rigoberto Lopez, 32, of Ivanhoe, remains at large. (Tulare County SO)
2 hours ago

Tulare County Man Arrested in Ivanhoe Shooting, Second Suspect Still at Large

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend