California sued the Trump administration on Thursday over the cancellation of high-speed rail funds, a move Gov. Gavin Newsom said "reeks of politics."
“It’s yet another political stunt to punish California," the Democratic governor said in a statement. "In reality, this is just a heartless attack on the Central Valley that will put real jobs and livelihoods on the line. We’re suing to stop Trump from derailing America’s only high-speed rail actively under construction.”
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California by state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, comes one day after the Federal Railroad Administration pulled $4 billion from the project that was intended for construction in the Central Valley. The suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and challenges the legality of the decision.
The lawsuit calls the administration’s actions “arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and contrary to law, and threatens to wreak significant economic damage on the Central Valley, the State, and the Nation.” It names Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and acting FRA Administrator Drew Feeley as defendants and details President Trump’s “personal animus” toward the project and long-standing criticism of it. Trump previously pulled funding from the train during his first term. (The Los Angeles Times)
In announcing the decision, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the state has wasted too much money and the administration won’t help them blow any more taxpayer dollars.
Governor Newsom and California’s high speed rail boondoggle are the definition of government incompetence and possibly corruption.
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) July 16, 2025
The price tag has gone from $33B to $135B with no completion date in sight.
We could give every single LA & SF resident almost 200 free flights… pic.twitter.com/19lyBzPZ62
President Trump also called the project "a total waste of taxpayer money."
"To the Law abiding, Tax paying, Hardworking Citizens of the United States of America, I am thrilled to announce that I have officially freed you from funding California’s disastrously overpriced, 'HIGH SPEED TRAIN TO NOWHERE.' This boondoggle, led by the incompetent Governor of California, Gavin Newscum, has cost Taxpayers Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we have received NOTHING in return except Cost Overruns," he wrote on Truth Social. "The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will. This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED. Thanks to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, not a SINGLE penny in Federal Dollars will go towards this Newscum SCAM ever again. This was an ill-conceived and unnecessary project, and a total waste of Taxpayer money — But no more!"
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