With the rise of the right in the last election, some more fiscally conservative governors are starting to cut back on federally funded projects. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, for instance, wants to cut out that state’s high speed rail project, even if current governor Jim Doyle warns that it will cost his taxpayers $100 million and eliminate 400 jobs. Walker wants the money—$810 million—redirected to state highways, but Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says absolutely not. If you don’t want it for high speed rail, other states do.

Enter Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is about to hand over the keys to his office to Governor-reelect Jerry Brown. In a letter to LaHood, Schwarzenegger says that he would be happy to take the money off Walker’s hands and use it on California’s high speed rail project. “We know how to use it to generate hundreds of thousands of jobs and provide a clean, fast and low-cost way to travel,” he wrote.

LaHood has yet to respond.
Read More at the Business Journal.