As the federal government shutdown drags on, the Trump administration has doubled down on a tactic of dubious legality that it has been pursuing since January: cancelling federal funding for already congressionally approved projects in blue cities and states.

Back in the summer, the administration pulled $4 billion from the California high speed rail project. It followed up a month later by withdrawing another $175 million from the project . While these cuts alone won’t kill off the project, for which California voters have already approved tens of billions of funding through raising bond revenue, they do make it harder for the state to complete vital parts of the rail system. The federal dollars were being used for everything from building stations to constructing viaducts and railway

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