Disputes over President Donald Trump�s border wall and California�s bullet train are intensifying the feud between the White House and the nation�s most populous state.
The Trump administration on Tuesday said it plans to cancel or claw back $3.5 billion in federal dollars allocated to California�s high-speed rail project, a move Gov. Gavin Newsom called �political retribution� for the state�s lawsuit against Trump�s declaration of a national emergency. California led a 16-state coalition in filing the suit Monday, challenging Trump�s power to declare an emergency to earn more money to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
�It�s no coincidence that the Administration�s threat comes 24 hours after California led 16 states in challenging the President�s farcical �national emergency,�� Newsom said in a statement. �This is clear political retribution by President Trump, and we won�t sit idly by.�
It�s the latest spat between Trump and California, which has styled itself as the Democratic-led �resistance� to the administration. Newsom, less than two months into his tenure, has appeared more eager to hit back at Trump than former California Gov. Jerry Brown. The lawsuit is California�s 46th against the Trump administration.
Using a broad interpretation of his executive powers, Trump declared an emergency last week to obtain wall funding beyond the $1.4 billion Congress approved for border security. The move allows the president to bypass Congress to use money from the Pentagon and other budgets.
Trump�s use of the emergency declaration has drawn bipartisan criticism and faces a number of legal challenges.
Still the president has told reporters he expects to prevail.
�I think in the end we�re going to be very successful with the lawsuit,� Trump told reporters, calling it an �open and closed� case.
Trump had earlier singled out California for its lead role in the suit, seeking to link the state�s high-speed rail project to his plan for the wall.
On Twitter, Trump claimed the �failed Fast Train project� was beset by �world record setting� cost overruns and had become �hundreds of times more expensive than the desperately needed Wall!�
The estimated cost for a San Francisco-to-Los Angeles train has more than doubled to $77 billion. That�s about 13 times the $5.7 billion Trump sought unsuccessfully from Congress to build the wall.
Hours later, the U.S. Department of Transportation told California it planned to cancel nearly $1 billion in federal money allocated to the rail project and wanted the state to return $2.5 billion it had already spent.
Trump�s comments about a �failed� project followed Newsom�s comments last week that the current plan for an LA-San Francisco train would cost too much and take too long. Instead, he said he�d focus immediately on a line through the Central Valley while still doing environmental work on the full line. That work is a requirement for keeping the federal money.
Still, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Newsom�s remarks reinforced concerns about the project�s ability to deliver. The department wrote Newsom�s comments mark a �significant retreat from the State�s initial vision and commitment and frustrated the purpose for which the Federal funding was awarded.�
California Republicans who have long called the project a waste of money applauded the Trump administration�s move to take back the money.
�It is time to move on from the broken high-speed rail project and redirect our efforts to infrastructure projects that work for Californians,� said U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, a city on the train�s route.
But Newsom said the state intends to keep the money. Losing it would be a major blow to the chronically underfunded project.
�This is California�s money, and we are going to fight for it,� he said.
The agreement with the federal government allows the administration to withhold or take back the money if the state fails to make �adequate progress� or �complete the project or one of its tasks.�
If the federal government decides to take the money back, it doesn�t have to wait for California to write a check. Instead it could withhold money from other transportation projects.
Tuesday�s comments won�t be the last; the administration has given California until March 5 to formally respond.
(AP)
