SACRAMENTO (KMJ) — After his announcement this week plans to scale down the High Speed Rail Project, President Donald Trump demanded on Twitter that the federal dollars being used to pay for it be returned.
The original plan was to create a high-speed link from San Francisco to Los Angeles. But in his State of the State speech on Tuesday, Newsom said he would shift the project’s focus towards a link between Bakersfield and Merced instead, as the current project would take too long and cost too much.
“There simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A. I wish there were.”
Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that the project “spent and wasted many billions of dollars,” adding that the state government owes the federal government $3.5 billion.
California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars. They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a “green” disaster!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2019
“Fake news,” responded Newsom, also on Twitter.
“We’re building high-speed rail, connecting the Central Valley and beyond. This is CA’s money, allocated by Congress for this project. We’re not giving it back.”
Fake news. We’re building high-speed rail, connecting the Central Valley and beyond.
This is CA’s money, allocated by Congress for this project. We’re not giving it back.
The train is leaving the station — better get on board!
(Also, desperately searching for some wall $$??) https://t.co/9hxEfEX8Vm
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 14, 2019
It comes after Governor Newsom’s visit to Parlier on Wednesday (click here to read more). He used the opportunity to emphasize the need to focus resources on the Central Valley.
“I think we’ve paid a lot of lip service in this community and I want to connect the Central Valley to the rest of the state. Not just in terms of rail, but in terms of mind-share.”
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
