California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Tuesday of this week that they are abandoning one of their large projects, the bullet train.

The high-speed bullet train was supposed to span from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

Gavin Newsom is a newly elected Governor of California so it’s not clear if this reflects on him as a good thing or bad thing.

Newsom made the decision to pull the plug on the project because they are over 10 years behind schedule and billions of dollars in the red for the budget.

According to Fox News,

“Let’s be real,” Newsom said in his first State of the State address. “The current project, as planned, would cost too much and respectfully take too long. There’s been too little oversight and not enough transparency.”

Newsom added that while California has “the capacity to complete a high-speed rail link between Merced and Bakersfield,” “there simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A.”

The embattled $77-billion bullet train has been an embarrassment for the Golden State and has been plagued by problems almost from the start.

The idea, long championed by Newsom’s predecessor, Jerry Brown, is years behind schedule with the latest estimate for completion set for 2033.

In a piece from the Los Angeles Times back in October 2015 by Ralph Vartabedian titled, “$68 Billion California Bullet Train Project Likely to Overshoot Budget and Deadline Targets”, he writes:

“…a Times analysis of project documents, as well as interviews with scientists, engineers, and construction experts, indicates that the deadline and budget targets will almost certainly be missed and that the state has underestimated the challenges ahead, particularly completing the tunneling on time.”

Now President Trump is calling on California to pay back the $3.5 Billion that was given to them for the project.

President Trump tweeted, “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!”

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

It’s no coincidence either that the President threw in the term “green” at the end of the tweet. Believe it or not, it’s a way to subconsciously associate this “green disaster” with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal”. Let’s hope it works and this Green New Deal gets forgotten about real soon.

But this $3.5 Billion could be money to go toward the wall. It looks like the $5.7 Billion will not be written into the budget per say, but we know the money is there whether or not it’s explicit or not.

Photo Credit: JD Lasica