California high-speed rail officials lashed out at the Trump administration in a letter Thursday, calling its justification for a proposed termination of $4 billion in federal grants “unfounded” and “outright misleading.”
What happened: High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri wrote in the letter to the Federal Railroad Administration that a 315-page report used to justify the pending cancellation of two Biden-era grants distorted data provided by the project, used opaque and disingenuous methodologies, and at times was “nothing more than rhetoric aimed at justifying a pre-ordained conclusion.”
“Hostility to public investments in high-speed rail, and to California’s leadership — hostility that dates back to FRA’s initial attempt to revoke federal funding to the Program in May 2019 — appears to be the real basis for the proposed determination,” Choudri wrote, referring to an attempt to terminate a $1 billion grant during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Former President Joe Biden eventually restored that grant following a legal challenge to it.
