Ernst looks to rein in bloated federal projects, proposes bill targeting Biden’s ‘reverse Midas touch’

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EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, will unveil new legislation today aimed at curbing the amount of taxpayer dollars being spent on delayed and over-budget projects.

The Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair is introducing the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act, which would force government agencies to disclose detailed reports on taxpayer-subsidized government projects that are either running more than five years behind schedule, or whose costs exceed $1 billion of the initial estimates.

It’s part of Ernst’s overall push to reduce government waste, areas of which she spotlights with her monthly "Squeal Awards." Timed with President Joe Biden’s expected 2024 announcement later today, she gave April’s prize to the commander-in-chief himself.

She zeroed in on Biden’s 2021 reversal of the Trump administration’s halt on a federal grant for a California high speed rail project. It was due to be completed in 2020 at a price tag of over $33 billion, according to an archived government page referenced by Ernst. It’s now expected to cost roughly $128 billion, the senator said.

CALIFORNIA BULLET TRAIN BOONDOGGLE FACES COST INCREASES AND POTENTIAL DELAYS

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 18: Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) speaks during a news conference following the Senate Republican weekly policy luncheons at the U.S. Capitol Building (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Government information on the project from this year estimates that it would use $8 billion alone in future grant money from Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure deal.

"Folks, your tax dollars would go a whole lot further if they were spent more wisely. The president has a kind of reverse Midas touch. But instead of turning to gold, the cost of everything he touches — and we all know he can’t keep his hands to himself — increases faster than the price of gold," Ernst said in her memo on Biden’s "Squeal Award."

CONSTRUCTION OF $10B HIGH-SPEED TRAIN CONNECTING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, LAS VEGAS BEGINS

President Biden during his February 2023 State of the Union address. (Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Under the bill, agencies funding delayed or over-budget projects would be forced to create a report on how much federal funding went into the project, all contractors and grant recipients involved, an explanation detailing changes from the project’s initial estimates, the impacts of any delays, and "the amount of and rationale for any award, incentive fee, or other type of bonus, if any, awarded for the covered project," according to draft bill text obtained by Fox News Digital.

Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure deal is likely to be a cornerstone of his likely re-election bid over the next year and a half. Conservatives in Congress like Ernst, who voted against the bill, still complain that billions of dollars will be lost to red tape and regulatory barriers.

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California's high-speed rail project, often referred to as the "train to nowhere", has a final cost estimate of more than $100 billion (Dave Levinthal / Center For Public Integrity)

A second piece of legislation she’s introducing Tuesday targets Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s ability to award new federal dollars to projects that are similarly burning excess taxpayer dollars.

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Her Put the Brakes on Boondoggles Act would force Buttigieg to withhold funding from transit or rail projects either running $1 billion over budget or whose revenues are projected to fall short of operating costs over their first 10 years in service.