Political Quotes

“I am very happy to report that the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency has homed in on perhaps the single-greatest example of government waste in United States history, and that is California's high-speed rail boondoggle. Here are the facts that the DOGE X handle cited, all of which are true. The high-speed rail project was originally projected in 2008 to cost $33 billion. It is now projected to cost up to $127.9 billion. Its estimated completion date was 2020. Of course, we are past 2020 now. As of 2024, zero passengers have been transported. Indeed, the majority of the system has not even been fully designed, yet it has received $6.8 billion in Federal funds, and they are requesting an additional $8 billion in Federal funds. In short, the cost has quadrupled, and nothing has been built. Actually, I am being a little bit unfair. There was an announcement earlier this year in May where the High-Speed Rail Authority, which really has to strain to come up with milestones to advertise to the public--there was a lot of hoopla surrounding the unveiling of an $11 billion bridge to nowhere that took 9 years to build, which is about the only thing that the High-Speed Rail Authority has to show for its efforts over the last 16 years. A few years ago, The New York Times did an expose, reporting that at the current pace, the high-speed rail project will not be completed this century.…”