[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 50 (Thursday, March 21, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H1309]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   GETTING GOOD VALUE FOR TAX DOLLARS

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, when people earn their paycheck, their 
wages, money off of stocks, whatever it is, they are going to spend 
their money on things that are a good value for them. Why isn't 
government, when they take their tax dollars involuntarily, getting a 
good value for them?
  I am speaking, in California, of the high-speed rail system. I call 
it high-cost rail. The price has quadrupled over what the voters were 
sold back about 15 years ago when they were told a high-speed train 
from Los Angeles to San Francisco could be built for $33 billion. The 
price tag is well over $125 billion, and it is many years behind as 
well.
  They are still about $100 billion short of the funding it would take 
to complete this project. They don't even have the route mapped out.
  Instead, why don't we invest tax dollars that are taken from the 
people involuntarily in things that can really benefit them, such as a 
water supply, a stable water supply, better communication systems, more 
rural broadband, things that can help people be connected in more ways 
besides a silly train, which is deemed the biggest boondoggle in a long 
time, connecting L.A. to San Francisco? Instead, it is connecting an 
orchard in Bakersfield to a place called Merced--not a good deal for 
taxpayers.

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