By CNBC.com
California’s high-speed rail agency on Monday asked the Trump administration to reconsider its plans to pull funding from the state’s bullet train project. It also warned that any “clawback” of federal funds already spent “would be disastrous.”
Last month, President Donald Trump called for California to return $3.5 billion in federal funds for the high-speed rail line planned between the San Francisco and Los Angeles. The U.S. Department of Transportation followed by announcing its intention to cancel $929 million in grant funds awarded previously but not yet paid out.
“Gov. [Gavin] Newsom’s recent public expression of support for delivering high-speed rail in California does not constitute a fundamental change in the purpose of the overall project for which federal funding was awarded,” Brian Kelly, CEO of the California High Speed Rail Authority said in a letter dated March 4 to Federal Railroad Administration head Ronald Batory.
