POLITICS MAY 22, 2019 / 3:44 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Trump administration holds off redirecting California's high-speed rail money

David Shepardson
3 MIN READ

(Reuters) - The Trump administration on Wednesday agreed not to immediately redirect nearly $1 billion it is withholding from California’s high-speed rail project, one of several disputes between Republican Trump and the Democratic-controlled state.

In exchange, the state dropped its plans to ask a court to at least temporarily halt any planned shift in funds, California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office said.

On Tuesday, California sued in U.S. District Court in San Francisco to challenge the administration’s decision to withhold $929 million awarded in 2010 for a “bullet” train project hobbled by extensive delays and rising costs. The administration had rejected the state’s administrative appeal.

The lawsuit argued that President Donald Trump has “overt hostility to California” and its opposition to his initiative, so far unrealized, to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Republican administration and California’s Democrats have also clashed over immigration and air quality standards.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) cannot re-obligate California’s funding to another state without first initiating a formal process of issuing a notice, according to a joint court filing from the state and U.S. Justice Department.

-snip-