EXCLUSIVE: Joni Ernst Asks Trump Admin To Yank $14 Billion From Boondoggle Projects

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa sent Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy a letter Tuesday, asking him to cancel federal funding for seven projects identified in a report released July 30.

Ernst released the report after Duffy sent Vice President J.D. Vance a letter detailing projects facing cost overruns of at least $1 billion or which have been behind schedule for five or more years. Ernst praised Duffy as a “tremendous partner” in identifying the wasteful spending.

“My Off the Rails report exposes how crazy trains and bridges to nowhere are taking taxpayers for quite the ride,” Ernst told the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation. “The American people should not be forced to continue funding boondoggles that are years behind schedule and billions over budget. Luckily, I have identified $14 billion that has yet to be spent. Secretary Duffy has been a tremendous partner in combatting wasteful spending, and I will continue to work with him to claw back the unspent funds and return them to taxpayers.”

One program Ernst singled out in the letter, the Honolulu Rail Transit Project, not only saw a cost overrun of $4.8 billion since it started in 2012, but its projected completion slipped from 2020 to 2031 in the process. Another program Ernst listed, the Purple Line for the Washington Metro, is $3.1 billion over budget and delayed by more than five years, and is expected to not be finished before February 2028.