Kevin Kiley: “Today, I will be voting for the transportation appropriations bill, and one of the reasons why is that it provides…”

“Today, I will be voting for the transportation appropriations bill, and one of the reasons why is that it provides exactly the right amount of funding for California's high- speed rail, which is zero dollars. Zero dollars are appropriated for high-speed rail in this bill, and it is well past time that we stop throwing good money after bad. High-speed rail was an idea in the early 2000s in California that might have initially had some promise, but because of sheer political dysfunction, it has become perhaps the biggest boondoggle in United States history. The price tag is now pegged at $128 billion, and a decade and a half after it was approved, there is still absolutely nothing to show for it. When you look at the press releases that come out from the high- speed rail authority, it is almost beyond belief what now counts as success. This press release is from just 5 days ago: ``California High-Speed Rail Authority Moves Closer to Designing Tracks and Systems.'' This is a decade and a half after the project was conceived. According to The New York Times, at the current pace, the high-speed rail project will not be completed in this century.…”