Donald Trump promised Americans he would rebuild the country\u2019s crumbling infrastructure, boasting on the campaign trail that he would put $1 trillion of public and private funds into rebuilding roads and bridges. He later drastically decreased that number to $550 billion.<\/p>\n
So where is that money going? Not to California, where plans to revitalize the Bay Area\u2019s Caltrain transit system have just been delayed by his administration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Trump\u2019s newly appointed transportation secretary, Elaine Chao \u2015 who oversees the Federal Transit Administration \u2015\u00a0has slammed the brakes on the project, which would change the diesel-powered trains to electric\u00a0and cost about $2 billion, according to SF Gate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Last Friday, Chao halted the $647 million federal grant that helps cover the project until an audit can be completed. Caltrain has already selected contractors to get started on construction by March 1. If they aren\u2019t able to get started by that date, the bidding process will begin all over again \u2015 and likely at a much higher cost.<\/p>\n
Caltrain, which connects riders from San Francisco to the Silicon Valley hub of San Jose, currently carries approximately 60,000 riders a day. Making the trains electric would increase ridership, save money on operating costs and help the environment, advocates for the change argue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cFor two years, Caltrain worked closely with Federal officials to complete a thorough evaluation of the project including intensive engineering assessments and financial vetting,\u201d Murphy said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But on Jan. 24,\u00a014 Republican members of the California GOP sent a letter to Chao, saying the cost of the project was too high and would not attract private financing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI never imagined that the electrification of a train would be subjected to such brutal, partisan politics,\u201d said Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) in a statement. \u201cThis is not a Democratic project nor is it a Republican project. It is about the modernization of an outdated commuter system that is the spine of the transportation system of the Peninsula and the Silicon Valley region.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Caltrain officials are asking Trump to intervene and direct the FTA to fund the electrification process\u00a0of the existing Caltrain system. They say the project would create 9,600 jobs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
There\u2019s little chance Caltrain can meet its deadline now that an audit is required, and the cost penalties could be \u201cso severe that we might not be able to do the project,\u201d Seamus Murphy, the rail system\u2019s chief communications officer, told the Los Angeles Times.<\/p>\n
The electrification of Caltrain would be just one element of an ambitious project to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles by\u00a0high-speed train, reducing travel time between the two metropolises to three hours.\u00a0California voters approved the entire project in 2008, but the original $40 billion cost is now closer to $64 billion\u00a0(this sum includes the cost of the electrification of the current Caltrain system).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell\u00a0(R-Ky.),\u00a0who is married to Chao, previously panned Trump\u2019s plan to spend a trillion dollars on infrastructure, saying such an infrastructure bill would not be\u00a0a good use of the GOP\u2019s time or resources.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Trump has already promised to waste more than $20 billion on a useless U.S.-Mexico border wall.\u00a0And it seems unlikely that he would give federal funds for infrastructure to California, a state that limits local law enforcement agencies\u2019 cooperation with deportation efforts and contains many so-called \u201csanctuary cities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The president has already threatened to withhold federal funds from sanctuary jurisdictions.\u00a0\u201cCertainly that would be a weapon,\u201d Trump said of denying funding to states and cities that don\u2019t fall into line with his federal immigration policies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In a 4 a.m. tweet earlier this month, Trump also floated the idea of cutting off federal funding for the University of California,\u00a0Berkeley, after violent student protests erupted\u00a0ahead of a scheduled appearance by right-wing agitator Milo Yiannopoulos.<\/p>\n
Part of Yiannopoulos\u2019 \u201cdifferent point of view\u201d\u00a0was his apparent defense of pedophilia,\u00a0as the world learned earlier this week. Maybe that will change Trump\u2019s mind about blanket refusals of federal funds. Probably not.<\/p>\n