Biden administration conceals enormous $162 billion in hidden infrastructure project cost overruns, Senator Ernst reveals
The Senate DOGE Caucus has released a damning report detailing more than a dozen federal infrastructure projects that are over budget by at least $162 billion collectively. The report, which aims to hold projects accountable to taxpayers, highlights a number of high-profile projects that have suffered from massive cost overruns and extensive delays.
One of the most notable examples is California's high-speed rail project, which is now approximately $95 billion to $147 billion over initial estimates, depending on sources, and at least 11 to 12 years behind schedule. The project, launched during the Obama administration, was originally estimated at $33 billion and planned to be operational by 2020 but remains incomplete with costs soaring to estimates as high as $180 billion.
Other major projects detailed in the report include a $10 billion light rail project in Honolulu, whose costs have doubled and now represent about half of Hawaii's average annual state budget. Another significant project is a $2.75 billion rail project in Minneapolis, noted as the costliest public works project in Minnesota’s history.
Senator Joni Ernst, chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, has emphasized that projects going over $1 billion or being more than five years behind schedule are “financial train wrecks.” Ernst and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, have introduced the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act, which requires every federal agency to report on projects that are severely delayed or over budget.
The report uses California's high-speed-rail project as a benchmark for projects that are either more than $1 billion over budget, five years past deadline, or both. The feds contributed several billion to Maryland's "Purple Line" commuter rail project, and the project in Iowa, where Interstate 80 and Interstate 29 briefly converge in Council Bluffs before the former crosses the Missouri River into Omaha, Nebraska, is also included.
Another project listed in the report is the extension of the BART system south of its current end near SFO, passing Norman Y. Mineta International Airport in San Jose, before curving north on the other side of the Bay to serve Silicon Valley and end in Berryessa, California. This project, which consists of several related contracts, began in 2013 and received over $1 billion in federal funds.
The Honolulu rail project requires an additional $9.9 billion to be completed and is about $4.5 billion over budget. The project to untangle the interchange between New Jersey's "42 Freeway," Interstate 295 and the Walt Whitman Bridge from Philadelphia is several years past-due.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has endorsed the Senate DOGE's efforts, stating that if you're receiving taxpayer dollars, you should expect to be held accountable by the American people. Attempts are underway to claw back $14 billion not yet spent on these over-budget infrastructure projects.
A photo of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is included in the report, signing her name on a concrete wall at what is supposed to be an extension of the Caltrain system in San Francisco. The less-than-2-mile project, which connects Caltrain and local rail via a tunnel between the Salesforce Center and the end of the current Caltrain line, is expected to cost $8 billion.
The report's focus is to hold projects accountable to taxpayers, and Ernst has stated that defunding the California high-speed-rail project was a success during the Trump administration, and now she wants other boondoggles to meet the same fate. The report's authors suggest that the accumulated over-budget figure for all listed projects is likely a "floor" if more digging into data were to be done.
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