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ROAD BLOCK AHEAD!
In addressing high-speed rail, Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard has just quoted CA Rep Kevin McCarthy claiming he is: “the first publicly elected official [in California] to come out opposed to it.” Sorry, but exactly one month ago, on Feb 9th, CA Assembly Member Diane Harkey issued a Press Release challenging the credibility of the CA high-speed rail project.
As his report is brief, and cutting any of it out would water down the points being made, I respectfully post Mr. Barnes Weekly Standard article in its entirety. The link for verification is provided below. Published on The Weekly Standard (http://www.weeklystandard.com)
California’s Top Member of Congress Opposes Obama’s High-Speed Rail Plan
Rep. Kevin McCarthy says thanks but no thanks. Fred Barnes March 8, 2011 11:00 AM
President Obama’s controversial plan for a high-speed rail system took a hit Tuesday as the top California member of Congress, House majority whip Kevin McCarthy, voiced strong opposition to building a new rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Though the line would run through his hometown of Bakersfield, McCarthy insisted it would be a bad investment, especially now with government debt soaring.
In California, the high-speed rail system would cost at least $60 billion just to build, then require a subsidy to operate, McCarthy said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. “You would not invest your own money in it,” he told reporters.
He described himself as the “the first publicly elected official [in California] to come out opposed to it.” In Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida, Republican governors have turned down federal money to construct high-speed rail lines in their states.
McCarthy said the rail proposal is shaky because there’s no guarantee either that it would ultimately be built or that it would achieve the optimistic goals for ridership set by its proponents. In the Central Valley of California, he said, the rail plan calls for 14 million rider trips annually, compared with only 750,000 rail or plane trips taken there now each year.
Funds obligated today for the rail line fall far short of its expected overall cost. The state is supposed to spend $9 billion, but none of that money has been spent so far. The Obama administration has set aside $2 billion and more may come from high-speed funds that Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida have chosen to forego.
McCarthy, who was Republican leader in the lower house of the California legislature before his election to Congress in 2006, said he favors high-speed between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. “But the private sector should pay for that,” he added.
Special thanks to the Weekly Standard for covering this controversial CA project
Kevin McCarthy – that’s exciting! He was one of last year’s “Young Guns” – the one with the White Hair:
Calitics gave Kevin quite an honor the other day:
Dumbest Quote of the Day: On HSR
” If you can’t prove it’s viable from a business plan, it’s not a (project) the government should be funding” Rep. Kevin McCarthy (SacBee)
I’m not sure it is worth going any further than that, but I will. Rep. McCarthy said that about HSR, while at the same time his central Valley Congressional cohorts are saying that the money approved for HSR should be put towards widening Highway 99.
Can we think about this for a while? He’s criticizing rail for not making enough money back. When exactly have roads ever paid for themselves? When we do toll up roads, people are outraged (occasionally justifiably).
With gas prices at or above $4, can we just finally quit the ridiculous canard that roads are a good long-term solution? Either we work on making HSR happen, or you need to present an actual solution that both addresses the needs of a state of over 40 million people as well as climate change.
Sticking your head in the ground and hoping for the 1980s to come back doesn’t actually help California.