| GOP promises to “cut red tape” by revoking California’s EPA waivers have left critical transportation projects stuck in limbo. Roads, highways, and freight corridors the Valley depends on are now stalled, stranding families, farmers, and businesses in gridlock.
Congressman Adam Gray is calling out D.C. Republicans for the real-world damage their dysfunction is causing in the Central Valley.
Gray’s message is clear: this isn’t about partisanship, it’s about competence. Because of D.C. Republicans’ reckless policies, Valley communities are left paying the price — with higher costs, longer delays, and fewer results.
Read more from the op-ed:
The Fresno Bee: Dear D.C.: California’s Central Valley is not your political punching bag | Opinion
- The Central Valley is where America’s food grows. Our agricultural communities, working families and small businesses depend on being able to move goods to market efficiently. We need stable roads and transportation infrastructure to make that happen, but right now, we are being held hostage by an administration that tried to cut red tape and instead tied itself into knots.
- Enter the Atwater-Merced Expressway, which will be an economic lifeline for commuters, farmers and freight traffic once complete. This vital transportation project will provide direct access between Highway 99 and two of our region’s most important economic engines: UC Merced and Castle Commerce Center. UC Merced is rapidly expanding as the newest UC campus, with an emphasis on training the next generation in high paying science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields that are crucial to our region’s economic future.
- …The Atwater-Merced Expressway would… [provide] direct highway access that will spur economic development…Planning and approvals have been underway for years. Now, however, federal action that was supposed to help has made things worse.
- When he rolled back California’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) waiver, President Donald Trump promised less bureaucratic red tape [and] faster project approvals.
- Instead, staff at the U.S. EPA have been directed not to move forward with certain California transportation projects because they do not have an approved model on which to verify projects…The very people who were supposed to have an easier time getting to “yes” from this streamlined process are now sitting in limbo trying to figure out how they’re supposed to do their jobs.
- This is what happens when you govern by social media post. This is what happens when you make promises without understanding how the machinery of government actually works.
- To add insult to injury, there’s now the added uncertainty of potential tariffs affecting construction material costs…The promise of a more efficient government is now chaos masquerading as leadership.
- We need a federal government that provides clear guidance to its own agencies and stops treating California like a political punching bag.
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