Senator Ernst exposes staggering $162B in hidden infrastructure overruns Biden admin kept quiet

More than a dozen federal infrastructure projects are over budget by at least $162 billion total, according to a new report from the Senate DOGE Caucus, whose chair claimed it took DOT Secretary Sean Duffy to help uncover the data the Biden administration did not make public.

Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, shared with Fox News Digital her report that uses California’s decadeslong high-speed-rail project as a boondoggle benchmark and laid out details of every federal infrastructure project that is also either more than $1 billion over budget, five years past deadline or both.

“Going a billion dollars over budget isn’t a rounding error; it’s a financial train wreck,” Ernst told Fox News Digital.

The caucus report said the accumulated $162.9 billion over-budget figure for all listed projects is likely a “floor” if more digging into data were to be done.

“I am thrilled to have worked with the Trump administration to defund the California Crazy Train, but now it’s time for these other boondoggles to meet the same fate,” Ernst continued. “Including just five of these off the rails projects in a future rescissions package would save taxpayers billions more than the first rescissions package.”

“Being five years behind schedule isn’t just losing track of time — it’s a full derailment,” she said. 

Ernst and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Ill., also introduced the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act, which is set for a committee vote this week and would require every federal agency to report on projects that are severely delayed or over budget.

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In one case involving an earmark for a 14-mile Minneapolis light rail extension, it languished for years and doubled its price tag to a current $2.74 billion.

Dubbed the “costliest public works project [in Minnesota] state history,” the project was defended by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., as crucial to the community given the “fallout of George Floyd’s murder” in 2020.

“This project will help us get back on our feet,” Omar said in a statement at the time.

Another rail project in Honolulu requires $9.9 billion more infused to be completed, according to the report, which also cites that figure as about half of the average annual budget for the entire state of Hawaii.

The rail line, which the report said has been clocked at slower than rush hour traffic at times, is also about $4.5 billion over budget.

The crown jewel of over-budget, behind-schedule projects cited in the report is California’s high-speed rail — a venture that has spanned multiple gubernatorial administrations.

The approximately-800-mile project was launched during the Obama administration, in which the DOGE report found the state sought federal funding before the preliminary process was even complete – in order to qualify for sunsetting Obama-era stimulus cash, according to a 2018 letter from the state auditor’s office included in the document.

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The feds approved about $7 billion, about half of which remains unspent, while the entire project is now projected to cost $128 billion; an overrun of $95 billion.

Separate from the statewide project, the report includes a photo of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., signing her name on a concrete wall at what is supposed to be an extension of the Caltrain system in San Francisco.

“This is about saving the planet. It’s about clean air. It’s about people. It’s about quality of the air. It’s about quality of the life, quality of people not having to be in their cars for long stints adding to pollution, but nonetheless getting to and from work more quickly,” Pelosi said.

The report said the less-than-2-mile project is expected to be one of the most expensive by-distance in the world.

That $8-billion project would connect the state’s future high-speed rail system, Caltrain and local rail via a tunnel between the Salesforce Center and the end of the current Caltrain line south of the business district.

The other project would extend the BART system south of its current end near SFO, passing Norman Y. Mineta International Airport in San Jose, before curving north on the other side of the Bay in order to service Silicon Valley and end in Berryessa, California.

Ernst’s report noted Pelosi attempted to insert a separate, nine-figure earmark for the Silicon Valley project into the COVID-19 relief bill but was rebuffed by the Senate Parliamentarian.

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Other lesser projects listed in the report, more so for tardiness reasons, include one in her own state of Iowa, where Interstate 80 and Interstate 29 briefly converge in Council Bluffs before the former crosses the Missouri River into Omaha, Nebraska.

On the East Coast, the project to untangle the interchange between New Jersey’s “42 Freeway,” Interstate 295 and the Walt Whitman Bridge from Philadelphia, was listed as several years past-due.

That project, which consists of several related contracts, began in 2013 and, while overseen by Trenton, received more than $1 billion in federal funds, according to DOGE’s report.

Inside the beltway, the feds contributed several billion to Maryland’s “Purple Line” commuter rail project, which has run into dueling politics and other issues.

In addition, Duffy told Fox News Digital he fully endorsed Senate DOGE’s efforts.

“If you’re receiving taxpayer dollars, you should expect to be held accountable by the American people,” the secretary said.

“No more boondoggles – Thank you Senator Ernst for your leadership in Congress to ensure federal dollars are being used effectively and efficiently.”