Ernst: Bringing Gravy Trains To A Squealing Halt

Do you hear that, folks?

That’s the sound of California’s Gravy Train coming to a squealing halt.

The rail project is about $100 billion over budget. It was supposed to be completed five years ago, but not even a single track has been laid.

I’ve been railing against this train to nowhere since 2019 and I worked with President Trump to slam the brakes on it. That’s right, the California Crazy Train will no longer be choo choo chewing up taxpayer money. We’re taking back the billions of tax dollars put on board this runaway train by the Biden administration.

For too long, the American people have been taken for a ride by budget busting boondoggles that keep costing more, but never seem to reach the end of the line.

Well folks, it’s a new era in Washington.

Not convinced?

In February, I highlighted the fact that the Coast Guard’s new patrol cutters were essentially lost at sea, billions over budget, and years behind schedule.

That squealing was heard at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which just announced “a wasteful shipbuilding contract” was partially terminated and other Coast Guard contracts are now being reviewed for “failing to meet delivery agreements.” DHS says, “We cannot allow critical shipbuilding projects to languish over budget and behind schedule.”

I also called for auditing the Federal Reserve’s over budget headquarters renovation, which is literally breaking the bank. Just last week, President Trump personally inspected the Fed’s “Taj Mahal on the National Mall” makeover alongside Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Over at the Pentagon, our commander in chief is ordering a comprehensive review to identify major defense acquisition programs that are over budget and behind schedule, and “any programs found meeting these failing criteria will be considered for cancellation.”

And Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy just unburied a list of boondoggles costing billions of dollars, that his predecessor, Pete Buttigieg, had withheld from Congress for two-and-a-half years. This report, required by a law I wrote, is a treasure map for finding billions of dollars more in bottomless money pits.

To protect taxpayers, this week I released my own report, “Off the Rails, The Billion Dollar Boondoggles Taking Taxpayers for a Ride,” outlining other troubled projects that need to be put back on track or canceled altogether before the train leaves the station.

Thirteen of the projects identified in my report have managed to rack up more than $160 billion in cost overruns. Clawing back unspent funds from just five of these projects would save $13 billion – more than the first rescissions package that returned $9 billion to taxpayers.

Going a billion dollars over budget isn’t a rounding error, it’s a financial train wreck.

Likewise, being five years behind schedule isn’t just losing track of time, it’s a derailment.

But it should not take fighting deep state bureaucrats for years to expose government boondoggles funded by your tax dollars.

This week, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously passed my Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act to require any government project that is $1 billion over budget or five years behind schedule to be publicized and scrutinized.

The American people should not be forced to continue writing a blank check for pet projects that keep costing more but never seem to be completed.

As I continue to work with the Trump administration to restore accountability to Washington, there is no better place to focus than on these off the rails projects.

Joni Ernst, a native of Red Oak and a combat veteran, represents Iowa in the United States Senate.

Click here for an official portrait of Senator Ernst.

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