Iowa Senator Joni Ernst has declared her commitment to dismantling a pet project of San Francisco Representative Nancy Pelosi, which is part of the administration’s infrastructure bill. Despite being lauded as a “success,” the project, known as the Biden-funded South Bay rail extension plan, has faced severe criticism for being billions of dollars over budget and more than a decade behind schedule.
Ernst has criticized the project as a “boondoggle.” In observance of “Sunshine Week,” which advocates for transparency in government and warns against unnecessary secrecy, and in keeping with her pledge to hold Washington accountable, Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair Joni Ernst has announced her intention to shed light on and expose the exorbitant cost of Pelosi’s project. Initially marketed to the public at $4.7 billion for a six-mile rail extension, the project’s cost has soared to $12.8 billion after securing billions in taxpayer funds from Washington—equating to over $2 billion per mile. Moreover, the project, originally slated for completion within two years, is now forecasted to conclude in 2037.
It’s #SunshineWeek, folks! ☀️
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) March 11, 2024
This week, I’ll be shining a light on reckless government spending and standing up for wasted taxpayer dollars! #makeemsqueal
In an exclusive statement provided to Breitbart News on Wednesday, Senator Joni Ernst criticized the 83-year-old California Representative for what she described as reckless spending of public funds.
“Pelosi’s pork project is once again skyrocketing billions of dollars over budget,” she remarked, suggesting that “initiating her rail expansion has only facilitated Biden’s excessive spending spree.”
While the president continues to boast about his infrastructure bill, Ernst implied that “this project epitomizes the ‘success’ it’s achieving: billions over budget and more than a decade behind schedule, with taxpayers footing the bill for a project that is going absolutely nowhere fast.”
She concluded by pledging to persist in her efforts to “put an end to the Democrats’ extravagant expenditures, so taxpayers aren’t left holding the bag for these runaway costs.”
Despite calls to cancel the project, which is billions over budget and significantly behind schedule, the Biden administration insists on treating the infrastructure program as “one of their top transit projects” in the country.
Earlier this month, House Democrats thwarted a motion that sought to eliminate the subway tunnel in Silicon Valley advocated by Pelosi in order to allocate more funds for mental health in the coronavirus bill. Although the project was ultimately scrapped due to Republican opposition, President Biden continues to allocate funds for it, with a recent audit revealing that the public was misled about its staggering cost.
Despite Ernst’s efforts to halt excessive spending, the Biden administration refuses to comply, aware that doing so would hold the president accountable for his numerous costly failures.
On Monday, Ernst sent a letter to the administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), Isabel Casillas Guzman, criticizing the agency’s failure to meet transparency requirements.
“In light of Sunshine Week, the annual celebration of the public’s right to know what the government is doing, I am urging the SBA to stop withholding information from taxpayers and adhere to the law,” she wrote. “I believe that sunlight is the best disinfectant, as I have halted billions of dollars in wasteful spending by shedding light on it, including my recent efforts to compel the SBA to recover billions of dollars in delinquent small business loans.”
In December, Ernst urged the administration to relocate taxpayer-funded government buildings from President Biden’s “D.C. swamp” to the “heartland,” where they can be “more accountable to hardworking Americans” after a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report revealed that most federal offices are largely vacant due to widespread teleworking among federal employees.
Biden admin doesn’t want the public to see the naughty list of no-shows, but I’ll share!
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) December 5, 2023
I’m calling on Biden’s bureaucrats to deck the agency halls with federal workers or sell off unused space🎄 pic.twitter.com/9JyPNSds5o
In October, Ernst achieved the passage of a bill amendment aimed at reducing pay for bureaucrats according to the extent of their telework and remote work locations. She also called for an investigation into the impact of remote work on productivity in September.
During September, she unveiled a reform package as part of her efforts to hold the “entrenched federal bureaucracy” accountable, “drain the swamp,” and “cut red tape.”
This package of solutions involves bringing decision-making “closer to the American people and ensuring government responsiveness to the genuine needs of Americans” through the SWAMP Act, which she introduced.
