Could $4B for high-speed rail blocked by Trump go for CA roads? It’s complicated
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- House Republicans urge DOT to reroute $4B rail funds to California highways.
- California sues federal government to reclaim rescinded high-speed rail grants.
- GOP wants funds redirected to rural roads, highways and interstates.
Some GOP congressmen are calling for the $4 billion that the Trump administration slashed from California’s high-speed rail budget to be sent back to the state for road work projects.
U.S. Rep. Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, says the money could pay for expanding interstates and state routes, including Highway 99 in the Central Valley.
In a statement to The Fresno Bee, Fong said he’s fighting for the state to retain the money because it was originally intended for California — though he added it was “squandered on the failed High-Speed Rail project.” Specifically, he said, federal funding should remain in the Central Valley, “where the need for reliable, effective infrastructure is urgent.”
A state report released in February found California is facing a projected 10-year revenue shortfall of about $216 billion for transportation projects overall, including work on highways and high-speed rail. But Fong says reallocating the $4 billion taken from high-speed rail to roads and highways would be an investment in the “backbone of our supply chain infrastructure.”
One reason that could be difficult to accomplish is that the California High-Speed Rail Authority has sued the federal government over its decision to rescind $4 billion from the project last month. Rail authority leaders are hopeful the money will eventually return to the bullet train project as a result of the legal battle, though it could take years.
The U.S. Department of Transportation did not respond to The Bee’s request for comment about Fong’s idea. But Fong, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said he talks regularly with Trump officials about the “need to reinvest our tax dollars in projects that will actually improve our communities.”
GOP praises rail defunding, asks for road repairs
Fong wrote a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy last week, applauding the decision to defund high-speed rail and laying out his ideas for how the $4 billion could be spent on roads. Eight other GOP congressmen from California co-signed the letter.
Apart from widening and fixing major freeways, Fong’s plan calls for repairs to “farm-to-market” roads, which connect agricultural areas to commercial facilities and are often traveled by heavy freight trucks. Fong said some of the money could also be used to fix roads damaged by wildfires in Los Angeles and for projects that are “essential for accommodating the 2028 Olympics.”
Fong did not respond directly to The Bee’s questions about how the money would be administered or whether his idea is competing with projects in other states.
But he said there is broad Republican support for redirecting the federal high-speed rail money to “enhance California’s rural road safety projects, strengthen our supply chain, build water infrastructure, and prevent catastrophic wildfires.”
Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, signed onto Fong’s letter. In a statement to The Bee, he echoed Fong’s criticism of high-speed rail, which he said has forced the Central Valley to “suffer due to neglect.”
“This project has been overfunded and grossly mismanaged from the start, and it’s past time we refocus our efforts and resources on infrastructure projects our region needs,” Valadao said.
State fights to keep high-speed rail money
California has sued the Trump administration over high-speed rail funding before.
The state sued when President Donald Trump pulled $1 billion from the project during his first term. That money was returned to the project after the state reached a settlement with the Department of Transportation during Joe Biden’s presidency.
Trump has long been a critic the California project, scrutinizing its delays, cost increases and focus on building out a Central Valley stretch before connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco. A Trump-ordered probe earlier this year led to the $4 billion rescission from the project as it determined the state was incapable of completing a Bakersfield-to-Merced line by 2033 and had broken the terms of two grant agreements.
California’s rail authority has refuted the Trump administration’s claims in recent weeks, pointing out that construction is active on 171 miles in the Central Valley, where the project has created more than 15,000 jobs and completed more than 50 major structures. Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri has said the first tracks will be laid in the Central Valley next year.
But Henry Perea, a rail authority board member from Fresno, said the project’s leaders fully expected Trump to again try to defund the project this time around. That’s why, Perea said, the project is focused on securing steady annual funding from the state’s Cap-and-Trade program. That program generates public dollars from companies that buy credits at state auctions to offset their greenhouse gas emissions.
Since the state sends more tax revenue to the federal government than it gets in return, “it’d be nice if the $4 billion came back to California in some form,” Perea told The Bee on Wednesday.
“I don’t think anybody would argue against that,” he continued, “but I think history will show that litigation of this matter will bring that money back to high-speed rail.”
This story was originally published August 2, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Could $4B for high-speed rail blocked by Trump go for CA roads? It’s complicated."
