The Trump administration made headlines this week when they pulled $4 billion in funding for a California bullet train project that was widely anticipated in the Golden State.

The news came on July 16 that the Department of Transportation (DOT) was taking back the money, weeks after warning the state that the end might be near, as Breitbart News reported.

The project was supposed to support a train that would move riders between San Francisco, in roughly the middle of the state, to Los Angeles in Southern California.

Money Moves

However, the move wasn’t unwarranted. The federal money was allocated to a project that was subject to increasing uncertainty about how the state would even follow through on the project, which has been delayed far too long.

The money, despite being a sizable fund, was less than one quarter of the total funding for the project. The rest of the money was supposed to come from the state, primarily via voter-approved bond, and from the state’s cap-and-trade program.

While the state could potentially still move forward with the project, it’s a huge loss to the program, and it's only the most recent roadblock to a California project by the Trump administration.

From the Admin

President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have both spoken out about the project, calling it the “train to nowhere.”

“The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED.”

Duffy said in a statement: “After 16 years and roughly $15 billion spent, not one high-speed track has been laid.” He said that the department would also be reviewing other federal grants related to the project.

“The $135 billion projected total cost of the project could buy every San Francisco and LA resident nearly 200 roundtrip flights between the cities,” the statement by the DOT concluded.

Negative Reaction

Authorities wrote a letter to the administration about the revocation, noting that more than 50 structures have been built toward the project, including underpasses, viaducts, and bridges.

“Canceling these grants without cause isn’t just wrong — it’s illegal,” authority CEO Ian Choudri said in a statement Wednesday. “These are legally binding agreements, and the Authority has met every obligation, as confirmed by repeated federal reviews, as recently as February 2025.”

Previously, Trump blocked the state’s rule to phase out the sale of gas-powered cars, and has also begun investigating the state’s university admissions policies.

The administration has also promised that it would take federal funding from the higher education institutions if they continued to allow biological males in girls sports.