Transportation consultant Ken Orski looks at post-election results in OH, WI, and FL as consistent with Newsweek's Robert J. Samuelson's pre-election column calling for an end to what he sees as wasteful and inappropriate high speed rail investment.
"Samuelson's blunt verdict is likely to resonate strongly in the deficit-conscious next Congress and among fiscally-strapped state governments."
Noting OH Gov.-elect Kasich's and WI Gov.elect Walker's rejection of HSR in their states and the uncertainty of the FL project with Gov.-elect Rick Scott (who had called for "reconsidering the Tampa to Orlando HSR project if the federal government fails to fully fund it"), Orski also looks at comments of FL Rep. John Mica, "the presumptive chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committeee", as further evidence that HSR will have a rough time in the upcoming congressional session.
"The last thing we want is to build a dog that has to be highly subsidized by taxpayers," Mica said in a telephone interview.
[Contributor's Note: The anti-HSR resolve of Gov.-elects Walker and Kasich appears to be matched by the "use it or lose" resolve of DOT Secretary LaHood.]
Thanks to KEN ORSKI
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