Sam Farr: “The base bill contains divisive policy riders that would pointlessly prohibit federal investment in high-speed rail in…”

“The base bill contains divisive policy riders that would pointlessly prohibit federal investment in high-speed rail in California. Rail has a long history in CA going back to 1869. Prior to ``the last spike'' joining Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads, CA was isolated from the rest of the country. Once the transcontinental railroad was completed, CA started to develop into! the urbanized, industrialized economic and political powerhouse that it is today--the 12th largest economy in the world. What we're talking about here is jobs. Connecting LA and San Francisco will generate 66,000 jobs annually for 15 years and 2,900 permanent operations jobs for Phase 1. In the Central Valley, initial construction will produce 20,000 jobs annually for five years. If you want to talk about Return on Investment, the initial state investment of $2.6 billion from state bond funds will produce a net economic impact of $8.3 to $8.8 billion--a 3 to 1 return. Every year, auto congestion drains $18.7 billion in lost time and wasteful fuel from the state's economy. Our auto congestion is not something we can build ourselves out of . . . travel on CA's interstate system is increasing at a rate 5 times faster than capacity is added. Now is the time to invest in High Speed Rail in CA.…”