The Patriot Post® · Biden Pours Taxpayer Money Into Rail Boondoggle

When it comes to a prime example of a government boondoggle, few projects are as clear as California’s high-speed rail line. As originally conceived, the project promised to provide a high-speed rail line running 220 miles per hour and connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles. Begun in 2008, the line was projected to cost a total of $33 billion. No small potatoes.

Here we are, 13 years later, and little track has been laid, while the cost has ballooned to a whopping $113 billion. It’s the money pit of all money pits. The boondoggle is so bad that even California Democrat lawmakers now join Republicans in criticizing the waste.

Criticism is typified by Republican Representative Doug LaMalfa. “This commuter train isn’t even ‘high speed,’ is at least 13 years behind schedule, and will now cost four times the original price tag promised to voters,” he complained. “Far too much taxpayer dollars have been wasted on this boondoggle. It’s in everyone’s best interest to cut the losses and rescind every cent dedicated to this foolish project." He added, "Any fool can see this project isn’t going to be completed. The state is $68 billion in debt, hasn’t laid a single inch of track and is over $120 billion short. Biden and Newsom sure know how to waste your money.”

Evidently, Joe Biden likes trains so much after his halcyon days on Amtrak that his administration will gladly continue throwing money at this boondoggle. The White House recently announced that an additional $3.07 billion would be poured into the project, justified with the excuse of climate change.

“This 171-mile rail corridor will support high-speed travel with speeds up to 220mph. The project will improve connectivity and increase travel options, along with providing more frequent passenger rail service, from the Central Valley to urban centers in northern and Southern California,” reads a statement from the White House. “New all-electric trainsets will produce zero emissions and be powered by 100% renewable energy. By separating passenger and freight lines, this project will benefit freight rail operations throughout California as well. This project has already created over 11,000 good-paying union construction jobs and has committed to using union labor for operations and maintenance.”

Furthermore, the Biden administration has shrunk the focus of the funding by targeting a line section between Bakersfield and Merced. Wasting more taxpayer dollars on a shrinking project. Brilliant.

However, funding this smaller section is all part of building Biden’s broader nationwide high-speed-rail dream. Per the White House statement, “The Biden-Harris Administration is building out a pipeline of passenger rail projects in every region of the country in order to achieve the President’s vision of world-class passenger rail.” Connecting the nation via railroad? Democrats always scream about turning back the clock, but the year is not 1823.

The real ideology behind the Biden administration’s plan has long been the dream of globalist elites — a desire to exert more control over society. That’s why they focus on building rail lines for moving people rather than goods, which is what America’s railroads are primarily used for today. It’s all part of the 15-minute cities vision, where people will be confined to cities, and travel between them will be limited to various forms of public transportation such as high-speed rail lines. When will this nationwide network of high-speed rail lines be realized? Well, Californians have been waiting for the answer to that question for well over a decade now.