The 2009 stimulus package included $8 billion dollars of federally allocated money for high speed rail projects. One of the proposed proposed high-speed rail projects, was in the state of Florida between Tampa and Orlando with a top speed of 186 miles per hour. Construction was to begin in 2011, but Governor Rick Scott formally announced that he would be rejecting any federal funds to construct the rail way. The governor felt that the project would be "far to costly to tax payers". President Obama played hardball and promised to distribute the money to other states. Two other republican governors (Florida and Wisconsin) also refused to take federal money for the plans. Now, several years later and the New York Times is reporting that the "projects have gone mostly nowhere".
In his 2011 state of the union address President Obama announced:
"Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail. This could allow you to go places in half the time it takes to travel by car. For some trips, it will be faster than flying, without the pat-down."
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http://www.nytimes.com/
http://www.denverpost.com/
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