Perhaps Florida Governor-elect Rick Scott and High Speed Rail (HSR) officials in the state could learn a thing or two from the Wisconsin’s governor-elect, Scott Walker who is opposed to a high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison. Walker would like to use the $800 million Wisconsin has already received in federal money to repair state highways instead.
But, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Walker in a letter last week that, the federal government will take back the $800 million in grant stimulus funding if the monies are not used for high-speed rail.
“I respect the power of governors to make decisions for their states,” Mr. LaHood wrote to Mr. Walker. “There seems to be some confusion, however, about how these high-speed rail dollars can be spent. For this reason, I would like to set the record straight: None of the money provided to Wisconsin may be used for road or highway projects, or anything other than high-speed rail. Consequently, unless you change your position, we plan to engage in an orderly transition to wind down Wisconsin’s project so that we do not waste taxpayers’ money.”
Florida has already received $2.05 billion under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to construct the Tampa to Orlando high speed rail line. But, it appears that this is now up in the air with the Republican take over of the U.S. House of Representatives and a GOP governor bent on cutting expenditures, cutting taxes and shrinking government.
Perhaps Florida is prepared to send back the stimulus funds for high-speed rail to the federal government!
