An organization calling itself Californians for High Speed Rail has just circulated a call to phone in appeals to prevent a list of Congressional legislative actions from taking place in Washington D.C.
I want to present that list to you since this is exactly what we are counting on to terminate this high-speed rail monstrosity.
This information was passed on to me by way of someone other than this organization. Needless to say, I've edited out all the promotional verbiage pertaining to how to prevent all these efforts from being successful.
At this moment, it's hard to tell what the chances for success are. We've discussed this before. What compromises will be achieved between Republicans and Democrats, since HSR falls so definitively along Party lines? And, both sides have a massive ideological stake in this game.
The House Bill, H.R. 1, has been shot down by the Senate. But that doesn't mean it's over. The entire federal budget is in negotiation, including the HSR pieces, which are, after all, small potatoes.
Also, remember who wrote the information, below; high-speed rail lovers.
Stay tuned to this channel. Pictures at 11:00.
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HOW THE HOUSE BILL IMPACTS THE CALIFORNIA HSR PROJECT
The House of Representatives recently passed an appropriations bill
for the remainder of FY 2011 that will severely impact the California HSR project.
The bill does the following:
Eliminates all Federal funding for HSR in FY 2011.
In FY 2010, $2.5 billion was appropriated for HSR, from which the California HSR project received a good portion. Eliminating this funding in FY 2011 will slow down the California project, as no additional HSR funds will be available.
Rescinds all unobligated HSR funds from FY 2010.
The House bill not only eliminates new funding in FY 2011, it actually rescinds money appropriated in 2010. Therefore, if the House bill prevails, California will lose the $715 million it was granted in FY 2010.
Rescinds all unobligated HSR funds from the Stimulus.
The House bill also eliminates all unobligated funds from the 2009 Stimulus. Yes, that right, it goes after money that was assigned to HSR over 2 years ago. The original $2.25 billion granted to California is likely safe. However, the money that California received from rejected HSR funds from Wisconsin and Ohio - $614 million - has not been obligated and is endanger of being lost.
Rescinds $2.4 billion in HSR funds originally designated for Florida, but rejected by Governor Rick Scott.
Much of the $2.4 billion in HSR funds rejected by Florida's Governor Rick Scott is likely to be redirected to the California HSR project. However, the entire $2.4 billion would be eliminated by the House bill, as it is a mixture of FY 2010 money and unobligated stimulus money. California is likely to get at least $1 billion and possibly $1.5 billion dollars or more from this reject money, but will not get any if the House bill prevails.
Total Result to California Project - Loss of $2.3 - $3 Billion in Federal Funds and a delay in spending matching State Proposition 1A Bond money on the initial construction.
The result will be that the initial segment for construction will have to be severely scaled back, significantly reducing the momentum of the project.
