Scott Walker’s enthrallment to the construction industry (to the tune of more than $1.2 million over the years) has now cost the state millions in federal dollars that would have been available to deliver needed (and mandatory) upgrades to the Hiawatha Line. Wisconsin is one of the states which contributes more to the Federal coffers than it takes in. Thanks to Walker, that ratio has gotten worse.
Although neither project [the Hiawatha Line upgrades and the Amtrak Station Upgrade] has a final price tag, state officials say both are expected to cost less than earlier estimates. But both will require the state to spend at least some of its own money on work that at one time would have been covered by a massive federal grant.
The federal government had agreed to pay for the temporary maintenance base and a new $60 million maintenance base in Madison, as part of an $810 million stimulus grant to extend the Hiawatha to Madison at 110 mph, the first step in a broader Midwestern network of fast, frequent trains. But U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood yanked all but $2 million of the grant after newly elected Gov. Scott Walker refused to spend it on the high-speed rail line.
Are these part of the “tools” you’ve given our state, Governor Walker? Let us add this to the litany of missteps, blunders and outright failures you’ve racked up in your 11 months as Governor.
Wisconsin can’t afford to keep Walker in office in the manner to which he’s become accustomed. It’s costing the state millions of dollars and thousands of jobs to support his failed business-centric ideological war on Wisconsin families.
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