These blog comments ask a rhetorical question about how the states receiving funds from the rejected Florida money where selected? The most obvious answer is that they are Blue States.
Well, that makes sense since this program has never been about improving US transit. No one with expertise in this field would have advocated throwing a trillion dollars at the eleven DOT identified high-speed rail corridors, most of which happen to be in Blue States.
I would say that this is not, as President Obama puts it, "winning the future," it's "buying the future" of the Democrats in the 2012 elections.
==============================
$2B HIGH-SPEED RAIL FUNDING REJECTED BY FLORIDA GIVEN TO BLUE STATES
MAY 9, 2011
How serious can the Democrats be about deficit reduction?
$2 Billion that was allocated for high-speed rail in Florida was rejected by Gov. Rick Scott (R) because it would have tied the state to long-term financial obligations. Instead of then using the savings from that $2 Billion to reduce the deficit, the administration re-allocated as gifts to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) to pay for pet projects in their very blue states.
Other states receiving rail funding include Washington, California, Michigan, Rhode Island, Illinois, Iowa... see a pattern here?
