California’s high-speed rail ‘boondoggle’ wastes $7 billion to build zero tracks — Trump’s DOT threatens to pull grants



After roughly 15 years and billions in taxpayer dollars, California’s high-speed rail project still has yet to lay down a single track, according to President Donald Trump’s Department of Transportation.

A shocking 300-page Federal Railroad Administration report released Wednesday by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy revealed that the project has already absorbed approximately $6.9 billion in federal funds.

'While continued federal partnership is important to the project, the majority of our funding has been provided by the state.'

California is anticipating another $4 billion in taxpayer money from two additional grants. However, Duffy noted that the state is in jeopardy of losing the funds because the project’s colossal failures have put it “in default of the terms of its federal grant awards.”

RELATED: Trump’s DOT left to clean up Biden admin's $43 billion grant fiasco

July 13, 2017, in Fresno, California. Photo by California High-Speed Rail Authority via Getty Images

A DOT press release stated that its latest report uncovered “years of mismanagement, broken promises, and wasted federal taxpayer dollars.”

The rail projects revealed nine “key findings,” including “missed deadlines, budget shortfalls, and overrepresentation of projected ridership.”

California High-Speed Rail Authority has 37 days to respond to the FRA’s report and secure the grants.

RELATED: California, federal government feud over $3.5 billion meant for high-speed rail 'boondoggle'

Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Photographer: Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Duffy said, “I promised the American people we would be good stewards of their hard-earned tax dollars. This report exposes a cold, hard truth: CHSRA has no viable path to complete this project on time or on budget. CHSRA is on notice — If they can’t deliver on their end of the deal, it could soon be time for these funds to flow to other projects that can achieve President Trump’s vision of building great, big, beautiful things again.”

“Our country deserves high-speed rail that makes us proud – not [boondoggle] trains to nowhere,” he added.

The DOT secretary wrote in a post on X that the funds currently allocated toward the doomed project could be redirected to “other more deserving infrastructure projects.”

— (@)

The CHSRA responded to the FRA’s report in a Wednesday statement that only further emphasized the project’s egregious waste of taxpayer funds, but this time on the state level.

We remain firmly committed to completing the nation’s first true high-speed rail system connecting the major population centers in the state.

The Authority strongly disagrees with the FRA’s conclusions, which are misguided and do not reflect the substantial progress made to deliver high-speed rail in California. While continued federal partnership is important to the project, the majority of our funding has been provided by the state.

To that end, the governor’s budget proposal, which is currently before the legislature, extends at least $1 billion per year in funding for the next 20 years, providing the necessary resources to complete the project’s initial operating segment. The Authority will fully address and correct the record in our formal response to the FRA’s notice.

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Trump ousts Biden’s Democratic NTSB vice chair amid aviation crisis



President Donald Trump's administration recently removed the Democratic vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board.

A White House official told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that Alvin Brown had been removed from the board.

'We're going to build a brand-new air traffic control system.'

Brown was appointed to the five-person safety panel by former President Joe Biden in December 2024, after the November presidential election and just weeks before Trump's inauguration.

An internet archive shows that Brown was removed from the NTSB's website sometime after May 1. The now-removed webpage stated that Brown had served as a board member since March 2024 and as a senior adviser for the Department of Transportation's Community Infrastructure Opportunities since August 2022. Brown served as the mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, from 2011 to 2015.

"Brown began his career as a senior member of the White House leadership team under President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. As Vice President Al Gore's Senior Advisor for Urban Policy, and Vice Chair of the White House Community Empowerment Board, he advised President Clinton and Vice President Gore on a wide range of domestic issues, including community revitalization, job creation, new business development, and affordable housing," the website previously read. "As Executive Director of the White House Community Empowerment Board, Brown led the Administration's $4 billion community empowerment initiatives, including the Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community programs."

The NTSB's website now lists only four members: Chairman Jennifer Homendy and members Michael Graham, Thomas Chapman, and J. Todd Inman.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration investigator, told WBAL that he has never seen a president remove a board member. It is typical for members to remain on the board past their five-year term when an administration has not selected a replacement.

"That happens a lot over the years, but that's normal and expected because you served your term and now it's time for someone else to serve in there," Guzzetti said. "But this wasn't that. This was just more abrupt and directly from the administration, and I don't know what the impetus is."

While the White House did not provide a reason for Brown's termination, Trump has previously commented on independent agency's lack of oversight and slow aviation investigations, which may have influenced the recent NTSB shake-up.

In February, Trump signed an executive order to ensure more accountability within federal agencies.

A White House fact sheet detailed the "reining in" of several independent agencies. However, it did not specifically name the NTSB, an independent government agency tasked with investigating transportation accidents.

"So-called independent agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have exercised enormous power over the American people without Presidential oversight," it read.

Following the January aviation disaster at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that resulted in the deaths of 67 people, Trump appeared to slam the federal government for historically slow investigations.

During a press briefing, he stated, "We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we'll probably state those opinions now because, over the years, I've watched as things like this happen and they say, 'Well, we're always investigating.' And then the investigation, three years later, they announce it."

Earlier this week, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy told Fox News that the administration will "radically transform the way air traffic control looks."

"We're going to build a brand-new air traffic control system," he added.

Duffy stated that the Trump administration will unveil the details of its plans on Thursday.

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EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Purges Thousands Of Woke Grants Left Behind By Biden

Build back better

Incompetence or sabotage? Trump DOT yanks prosecutors for damaging leak in NYC congestion toll lawsuit



President Donald Trump's Department of Transportation replaced federal prosecutors who leaked damaging information regarding the administration's plan to terminate New York City's congestion toll.

On Wednesday evening, the Department of Justice lawyers accidentally — they claimed — filed in federal court a confidential memo that undermined the administration's case.

'It's sad to see a premier legal organization continue to fall into such disgrace.'

The 11-page letter, dated April 11, was written by the lawyers and addressed to Sean Duffy, informing the DOT secretary that they believed their case was "exceedingly likely" to fail.

"We have been unable to identify a compelling legal argument to support this position," they wrote.

The prosecutors recommended Duffy form a stronger argument against the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration's DOT in February for attempting to put a stop to the congestion toll.

"As discussed below, there is considerable litigation risk in defending the Secretary's February 19, 2025 decision against plaintiffs' claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, that the decision was contrary to law, pretextual, procedurally arbitrary and capricious, and violated due process," the attorneys told Duffy.

The prosecutors suggested that Duffy use Office of Management and Budget regulations to argue the congestion toll should be terminated "as a matter of changed agency priorities." They also stated that the administration could claim that the pricing was based on MTA's funding level needs and not a goal to reduce traffic.

However, the lawyers concluded that both of these arguments were unlikely to convince the court.

Nicholas Biase, a Southern District of New York spokesperson, stated that the filing of the confidential memo "was a completely honest error and was not intentional in any way."

Yet, the DOT questioned whether the leak was deliberate.

Halee Dobbins, a DOT spokesperson, stated, "Are SDNY lawyers on this case incompetent or was this their attempt to RESIST? At the very least, it's legal malpractice."

"It's sad to see a premier legal organization continue to fall into such disgrace," she said. "SDNY's memo doesn't represent reality. [New York Governor] Kathy Hochul's congestion pricing war against the working class was hastily approved by the Biden Administration after Donald Trump was elected."

"Taxpayers already financed the highways that Hochul is now shutting down to the driving public and there is no free alternative. This is unprecedented and illegal. If New York doesn't shut it down, the Department of Transportation is considering halting projects and funding for the state," Dobbins added.

The DOT replaced the attorneys with others in the DOJ's Civil Division.

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Hochul defies Trump’s deadline to end congestion toll, risking NY funding cuts



New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) is risking losing federal government funding after she refused to comply with President Donald Trump’s demand to shut down Manhattan’s congestion toll.

The Trump administration’s Department of Transportation gave Hochul and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority until Sunday to shut down its $9 congestion toll, but the governor and MTA officials refused.

'The federal government sends billions to New York — but we won’t foot the bill if the state continues to implement an illegal toll to backfill the budget of New York’s failing transit system.'

In February, the MTA filed a lawsuit against the White House, seeking to block it from ending the toll program. The state’s Department of Transportation and New York City joined the complaint against the administration last week.

“The President is not a king, and Defendants have no right to demand compliance with the Administration’s unlawful directives,” the lawsuit read. “Plaintiffs will continue to operate the Program as required by New York law unless and until Plaintiffs are directed to stop by a court order.”

Despite the court filing, Trump’s DOT stated that it still expected New York to comply with its deadline on April 20.

“USDOT will continue to fight for working-class Americans whose tax dollars have already funded and paid for these roads,” the department stated.

On Saturday, U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) told the New York Post that the White House “needs to come up with some type of penalization for not complying.”

“Maybe they want to look at withholding certain federal funds, for projects within Manhattan, within the congestion zone. Maybe the Second Avenue subway [expansion project], for example,” she stated.

The Trump administration appeared to take Malliotakis’ advice after Hochul declared, “The cameras are staying on.”

MTA chief of policy and external relations John McCarthy told the Post, “In case there were any doubts, MTA, State, and City reaffirmed in a court filing that congestion pricing is here to stay and that the arguments [USDOT] Secretary [Sean] Duffy made trying to stop it have zero merit.”

After New York breezed past the Sunday deadline, Duffy sent a letter to Hochul warning of “serious consequences” for continuing to impose the tolls.

Duffy gave the state’s DOT until May 21 to either stop the congestion fines or demonstrate how it did not violate the law. He noted that if the Federal Highway Administration finds that the state has broken the law or fails to respond, the federal government could pull funding for state road projects beginning on May 28.

He stated in a post on X, “The federal government sends billions to New York — but we won’t foot the bill if the state continues to implement an illegal toll to backfill the budget of New York’s failing transit system.”

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They covered Christ — Trump just brought Him back to light



Jesus is coming back — to the walls of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

In a sharp reversal of the Biden administration’s campaign to scrub religious symbols from public institutions, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced last week that a painting of Jesus covered up in 2023 would be restored to public view. The announcement drew cheers from merchant mariners gathered at the academy.

Under the previous administration, erasing Jesus from the walls was just the beginning. But that all changed the moment President Trump took office.

The painting, titled “Christ on the Water,” dates to the 1940s and was created to honor mariners lost at sea during World War II. But in early 2023, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation sent a letter to then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, calling the artwork a “sectarian painting illustrating the supremacy of Jesus Christ” and demanding that it be removed as an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

Naturally, Buttigieg complied. Joanna Nunan, the academy superintendent — whose biography boasted of her efforts to expand “diversity and inclusion” in the Coast Guard and Merchant Marine — ordered the painting covered.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and then-Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) slammed Nunan for her “flawed understanding” of the First Amendment and called on the academy to keep the painting on display. At the time, academy midshipmen warned that “woke” ideology had “seeped into the school” — and that its spread had only accelerated under Biden and Buttigieg.

Duffy’s announcement marks a clear break from that era and shows just how dramatically things have shifted under President Trump.

Last week’s announcement isn’t the only recent move by the administration to defend America’s religious heritage.

Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins announced that his office intervened to stop a speech code threatening chaplains at a Pennsylvania VA hospital.

The action came after First Liberty Institute and the Independence Law Center sent a letter to Collins on behalf of Chaplain Rusty Trubey. An Army Reserve chaplain, veteran, and former missionary, Trubey has served at the Coatesville VA Medical Center for nearly a decade.

In June 2024, as part of his regular duties, Trubey led a chapel service and preached from the first chapter of Romans. After the service, while cleaning up, he was approached by a VA police officer who said complaints had been filed about his sermon.

After the incident, the VA removed Chaplain Trubey from his duties, launched a months-long investigation, and threatened to mark his permanent record. Though the VA eventually dropped the reprimand, his supervisor pushed to impose a sermon review process and revise the Chaplain SOP and Performance Plan to limit what topics chaplains could preach on. Had those changes taken effect, chaplains could have faced punishment for preaching in accordance with their religious convictions.

Secretary Collins reversed course, stating clearly: “There is no national or local policy or standard operating procedure which inhibits Chaplain sermons. To the extent that there have been any proposed changes to any existing policy, those proposals will not move forward and have been rescinded.”

He emphasized, “It is undisputed and well-settled law that constitutional protections and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act safeguard statements made by all VA chaplains while delivering sermons in line with their ecclesiastical endorsers.”

Under the previous administration, erasing Jesus from the walls was just the beginning. Erasing faith from the pulpit soon followed. We can only imagine what the landscape would look like if the November election had gone the other way.

But that all changed the moment President Trump took office.

In his first days, Trump issued executive orders to restore religious liberty and end the weaponization of the federal government against political dissent — a tactic increasingly common in the left’s push to enforce its woke ideology. From the start, the administration made clear that faith would not be silenced.

That mission hasn’t let up. The fight to restore our first freedom has been relentless.

And to that, many Americans say amen.

Trump’s DOT left to clean up Biden admin's $43 billion grant fiasco



The Trump administration’s Department of Transportation revealed that it inherited an “unprecedented backlog of grants” left by the Biden administration.

In late March, the DOT’s Federal Highway Administration reported that Secretary Sean Duffy had finalized a $221 million federal grant to rebuild Rhode Island’s Washington Bridge — its westbound side has been closed since December 2023 following a “critical failure.” The funding for the project was initially announced in the fall of 2024, but the Biden administration “failed to sign the agreement.”

‘Under the Trump administration, we’ve ripped out this red tape and are getting back to what matters.’

The DOT’s announcement noted that "the Trump administration inherited roughly 3,200 unobligated grants that had been promoted by the previous administration but never fulfilled.”

Duffy stated, “Since coming into office, my team has discovered an unprecedented backlog of grants leftover from the previous administration.”

He slammed “ridiculous DEI and Green New Deal requirements” for preventing “real infrastructure from being built and funded.”

“Under the Trump administration, we’ve ripped out this red tape and are getting back to what matters. As part of our work to deliver real results, we are pleased to announce $221 million in grants for Rhode Island’s Washington Bridge — a critical link that carries thousands of vehicles a day,” Duffy declared.

A DOT spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the backlogs totaled $43 billion. After Trump won the election but before he took office, the Biden administration reportedly announced $9 billion worth of grants to 1,000 recipients that were not made official before Biden departed.

“Nothing was done to actually get these grant agreements signed and sent to projects,” the DOT spokesperson stated.

During the April 10 Cabinet meeting, Duffy told President Donald Trump about the previous administration’s massive grant backlog.

“The last administration announced 3,200 projects, big, beautiful roads and bridges — most of them are good. But they announced them — they didn’t sign a grant agreement,” he explained. “So the money doesn’t go out the door to build the infrastructure in the country. And it’s fun to do an announcement. It’s actually the harder work to put together these grant agreements.”

Duffy noted how the Biden administration included “green and social justice requirements.”

“We’re pulling all that out and putting the money toward the infrastructure, not the social movement from the last administration,” he said.

Trump responded, “Good steel, right? As opposed to green papier-mache.”

On Monday, Duffy announced that the DOT had saved taxpayers $63.9 million by terminating a grant between the Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak to build a high-speed rail project in Texas.

Duffy called the project “a waste of taxpayer funds and a distraction from Amtrak’s core mission of improving its existing subpar services.”

“If the private sector believes this project is feasible, they should carry the pre-construction work forward, rather than relying on Amtrak and the American taxpayer to bail them out. My department will continue to look for every opportunity to save federal dollars and prioritize efficiencies,” Duffy said.

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Trump Policies Push Maryland To Unplug Its EV Mandate

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D.) halted his state's enforcement of its aggressive electric vehicle mandate law, citing the Trump administration's withholding of federal funds and concerns from automakers.

The post Trump Policies Push Maryland To Unplug Its EV Mandate appeared first on .