When U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, criticized then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u200c in 2021 for \u200ban expensive San \u200cFrancisco-area subway expansion, the California Democrat\u2019s \u200cfavored\u200b rail project was\u2063 already over $1 billion\u200d above budget.\u200b <\/p>\n

Enraged, \u2062the senator from the nation\u2019s\u2062 top \u200dpork-producing state presented her monthly \u201cMake \u2018em Squeal\u201d award to\u200d the U.S. Department of \u200bTransportation for “allowing\u2064 taxpayers to be taken for \u2062a ride on this gravy train that is billions over budget,” as reported by Fox\u2063 News. <\/p>\n

“The tunnel being dug for this subway is \u2062literally \u200ca bottomless pit for taxpayer money,” Ernst declared in a press\u200c release. At that time, the Bay\u2063 Area rail project, initially estimated at $4.7 billion, \u200chad skyrocketed to $6.9 billion.<\/p>\n

That price tag now seems insignificant. The cost of \u2062Pelosi\u2019s\u2063 favored deal \u200bhas \u200cnearly tripled.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t want to ever be sugarcoating things for our” VTA\u200b Board \u200cof Directors, Tom Maguire, Valley Transportation Authority\u2019s megaproject officer, told\u2063 the Mercury News. “I think there\u2019s a chance the\u200b number \u200bis over 12.2 \u200bbillion dollars, but I don\u2019t know\u2062 how much higher.”<\/p>\n

As Ernst points out, that estimate for the six-mile project now\u2064 amounts to over $2 billion per mile. Your tax dollars at work.<\/p>\n

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These \u200ccost surges may not be over. This boondoggle was supposed to be completed by 2026, but now its planners \u2062are\u2062 looking at\u2063 a completion date of 2037, if not\u2064 later. So much for being “shovel-ready.” Despite \u200dthis, a federal\u2063 report predicts \u200dthat daily ridership in 2040 will be 20,000 passengers \u200clower \u200cthan \u200bwhat the local transportation authority optimistically\u2064 estimated, according to the San Jose Spotlight.<\/p>\n

The Federal Transit Administration,\u200c funded by American taxpayers, is \u2064covering about half the cost of\u2064 the\u2063 transportation project.<\/p>\n

\u2018Breach \u2064in Transparency\u2019<\/h2>\n
The massive cost overruns associated with Pelosi\u2019s San Francisco project are just \u2063the tip of the\u200b iceberg\u2062 when it\u200c comes to accountability issues in government.<\/p>\n
A scathing report in January by the Santa Clara\u200c Valley Transportation Authority\u2019s auditor\u2063 general \u200chighlights what some have called a “breach\u200c in transparency.” The report reveals that communications related to the project \u200chave \u2063been “misleading and\/or dismissive of\u2063 concerns.”<\/p>\n
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However,\u2062 President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg continue to support\u200d the Bay Area project. “The FTA has treated this program \u2062as one \u2062of their top transit projects in the country,” \u2063said Palo Alto Councilmember Pat Burt. “They\u2019ve repeatedly \u200cfound it to be an important and worthwhile \u2062investment. And they\u2019re committed to it. However, we still have uncertainties.”<\/p>\n
Indeed,\u200b uncertainties abound.\u2064 The bloated subway \u200bexpansion\u200c is just one example of federally funded projects<\/a> that lack transparency. \u200cThis is especially concerning considering the $4.7 \u2062trillion in federal funds allocated<\/a> in response to \u200bthe Covid \u200cpandemic through various acts. Much\u2063 of that money has been mismanaged and\u200b poorly accounted for by the Biden administration.<\/p>\n
An audit conducted by the Government Accountability Office\u2063 last year identified\u200b 49 federal agencies that \u200dfailed to report data to USAspending.gov, \u200cthe official\u200b website for tracking federal spending.<\/p>\n
“Although many nonreporting agencies may not be required to report, neither the Department of the Treasury nor the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have \u2063clear responsibility for determining which agencies must report,” states the GAO \u2064report.\u2062 “In\u200d addition, among the agencies that \u200bdid report to \u200dUSAspending.gov, we found that some reported COVID-19 obligation amounts did not agree with the \u200dinformation in their budget and\u200d annual financial reports.”<\/p>\n
Ernst introduced\u200c a provision amending the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency\u2062 Act to ensure that federally funded projects’ “other transaction agreements” (OTAs) are reported \u2063to USAspending.gov. However, the Biden administration has failed to\u200c comply with this law.<\/p>\n
The Pentagon, \u200bwhich has repeatedly \u200dfailed audits, and the Small Business Administration are \u2064among the worst offenders. Ernst stated that these \u200cagencies \u200dare not adhering to\u2063 two other \u200baccountability laws she authored, the COST Act and the Billion\u2064 Dollar Boondoggle Act, which require the DOT to disclose all taxpayer-funded projects that are over budget by $1 billion or delayed by five years or more. The Transportation Department is a \u2064year and \u200da half behind schedule in \u200creleasing the billion-dollar boondoggle list.<\/p>\n
As Ernst emphasizes, the \u2062transparency act mandates that \u2064all federal financial assistance<\/a> and expenditures be \u200cpromptly posted and available at USAspending.gov. However, the U.S. Department of Treasury, which operates the website, claims it is\u200c not required to report OTAs. The GAO report found that over $40 billion in OTAs were\u200c not listed on the site, and this \u200damount\u200d is \u200cgrowing significantly.<\/p>\n
In March 2024, Senator Ernst will present her Squeal Award to the\u2063 Treasury Department as she introduces the Stop\u200c Secret Spending Act. This act would require full disclosure of OTAs on\u2063 the public website and “inform the public\u200d of any other \u200dsecret Washington spending\u200c schemes.”<\/p>\n
“We all know there is wasteful spending everywhere you\u2062 look in Washington, but Biden wants to keep you in the dark, because we can\u2019t stop what we can\u2019t \u2062see,”\u2063 Ernst \u200cstated. “Thanks to USAspending, \u2062for example, I learned that EcoHealth, the\u2063 organization that sent over\u200b one million taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan Institute for dangerous experiments on bat \u200bcoronaviruses, just received more dollars from the\u2063 Department of Defense to conduct research on ‘high-risk pathogens’.”<\/p>\n
During Sunshine Week, dedicated to \u200bpromoting transparency in \u2062government, Pelosi’s transportation boondoggle and the federal government’s\u200b failure to account \u200bfor taxpayer dollars\u200c highlight the concerns of transparency advocates. Adam Andrzejewski, Founder and\u2062 CEO\u2064 of Open the Books, stated that Ernst’s bill would provide Americans with the transparency \u200bthey deserve.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
rnrn <\/p>\n
What steps\u200c have Senator Ernst and the Biden administration taken to address transparency and accountability issues in government spending<\/h2>\n
The Costly\u2062 Reality of\u200b Pelosi’s San Francisco Subway Expansion<\/p>\n
In 2021, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst\u2064 of Iowa called out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her support\u200d of an expensive subway expansion project in San Francisco. At\u200b the\u200b time of Ernst’s\u2062 criticism, the\u200d project was already over $1 billion\u2063 above its initial budget. Ernst, outraged by \u200bthe skyrocketing costs, presented her monthly \u2063”Make ’em Squeal” award to the U.S. Department of Transportation for allowing taxpayers to be taken \u2063for a ride on this gravy train.<\/p>\n
According to reports, the \u200dinitial estimated cost\u200b of \u2064the Bay Area rail project was $4.7 billion. However, it has now nearly tripled in cost, reaching a staggering $12.2 billion. The excavation for this subway has become \u200ca bottomless pit \u200bfor taxpayer money, as \u2063Ernst aptly described it. To put into perspective the extent of the cost\u2063 inflation, the project now amounts to over $2\u200b billion \u2063per mile.<\/p>\n
Despite these exorbitant cost increases,\u2064 the project’s completion date has\u2063 been pushed back\u200c to 2037 or \u200ceven\u200d later. It is clear that the\u200d project is far from being “shovel-ready,” as \u200bpoliticians often\u200b claim.\u2062 Furthermore, a \u200cfederal\u2063 report predicts that \u200ddaily ridership in \u200b2040 \u2063will \u200dbe 20,000 passengers lower than what the local transportation authority estimated.<\/p>\n
The Federal Transit Administration, funded by American taxpayers, is covering approximately\u2062 half \u200dof\u200b the \u2062transportation\u200d project’s cost. This raises \u2062concerns about \u2063transparency and\u200c accountability\u2063 in government\u2064 spending, especially considering the $4.7 trillion\u2063 allocated in response to\u2063 the\u200c Covid pandemic. Many federally\u200b funded projects lack transparency, resulting in\u2063 mismanagement and\u2063 poor accounting.<\/p>\n
A scathing report by\u2063 the Santa\u2062 Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s auditor general\u200d has\u200c highlighted a breach in transparency regarding communications \u2063related to the project.\u2063 The \u2062report reveals that these communications have been misleading and dismissive of legitimate concerns.<\/p>\n
Despite the red flags and concerns raised by auditors, President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg continue to support the Bay Area project. They \u2063view it as an important and worthwhile investment, despite the uncertainties\u200b surrounding \u200dthe \u200dproject.<\/p>\n
This lack of transparency\u200c is not \u200cexclusive to the San Francisco \u2062subway expansion. Last year, an audit by \u200dthe \u2063Government Accountability Office identified 49 federal agencies\u200b that failed to report\u200d data to USAspending.gov,\u200d the \u200dofficial website for tracking federal spending. \u200cThere \u200dis no clear responsibility for \u200ddetermining which agencies must \u200dreport, leading to discrepancies in reported COVID-19 obligation amounts.<\/p>\n
Senator Ernst has taken steps to address this issue by introducing provisions to amend the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency \u2064Act. These provisions would ensure\u200b that federally funded projects’ other transaction agreements are reported\u2062 on USAspending.gov. However, the Biden\u200d administration has failed to comply with this law.<\/p>\n
It is concerning that even\u200d agencies like the Pentagon and the \u2062Small\u200b Business Administration, which have repeatedly failed\u2064 audits, \u2063are not adhering to accountability \u200claws. The\u200c lack \u2063of transparency and mismanagement in federally\u2063 funded projects is a \u2064pressing issue that needs to be addressed.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, the costly and poorly managed San Francisco subway expansion project serves as a \u2063stark example\u2062 of\u2062 the challenges posed by\u2063 accountability and\u2063 transparency in government spending. It is imperative for elected officials\u2062 and\u200c government \u2064agencies to prioritize responsible fiscal\u2064 management and provide \u2062accurate and transparent reporting\u2064 to ensure taxpayer \u2062dollars are spent wisely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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