Cali wasted $19 million suing Trump — numbers – Latest News
California Attorney General Rob Bonta introduced that California has spent $19.2 million of taxpayer money combating the Trump administration in court docket of the previous 18 months.
Bonta made that sound like a great return on investment: $19.2 million on legal charges to guard $207.1 billion in federal funding — or so he says.
It’s not clear whether or not Bonta is counting his losses in that determine as nicely — just like the $4 billion California misplaced when its high-speed rail project failed to satisfy project deadlines.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta introduced that California has spent $19.2 million of taxpayer money combating the Trump administration in court docket. Allison Robbert – Pool by way of CNP/Shutterstock
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Bonta went to court docket to keep that money — however quietly dropped the case.
Regardless, Bonta’s declare reveals a deep, cynical misunderstanding of each primary economics and the financial pressures confronted by bizarre Californians.
The $207.1 billion determine isn’t money Bonta “saved” or generated out of skinny air. It represents routine, baseline federal program allocations — Medicaid matching funds, transportation grants and social security internet {dollars} — that circulation by statutory formulation throughout the nation.
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Claiming sole credit for shielding billions in routine federal funding just because his workplace connected California’s identify to multi-state ideological lawsuits is a self-serving political fantasy.
Federal businesses routinely alter, review or place administrative holds on grant circumstances. The framing of a $200 billion rescue operation is designed to fabricate heroic headlines, to not replicate fiscal actuality.
Meanwhile, the $19.2 million spent on California’s lawsuits was actual, cash-out-the-door taxpayer money. Every greenback Bonta burns in court docket is a greenback extracted straight from working households who’re already getting crushed by the very best state income taxes and the very best price of residing within the nation.
Bonta made that sound like a great return on investment: $19.2 million on legal charges to guard $207.1 billion in federal funding — or so he says. REUTERS
The Newsom administration has mastered the artwork of turning authorities spending into a ethical efficiency. Sacramento’s political class insists these legal battles are very important to the public curiosity. But a nearer take a look at the dockets reveals a authorities treating the federal court docket system like a stage for partisan posturing.
Take, for instance, the multi-state onslaught in opposition to federal tariffs. Bonta joined a 25-state coalition in submitting lawsuits within the US Court of International Trade, accusing Washington of misusing emergency financial powers and illegally raising prices on on a regular basis customers.
The irony is staggering. Newsom and Bonta declare to combat in opposition to federal commerce insurance policies that inflate costs for working households. Yet, at the very same time, their administration enforces the nation’s highest state gasoline taxes; exorbitant utility charges pushed by green-energy mandates; and a mountain of laws that retains driving the fee of residing increased.
Sacramento desires to litigate federal financial coverage in court docket whereas operating a home tax-and-regulate regime that actively bleeds its own residents dry.
The courtroom theatrics prolong deep into immigration and national security coverage as nicely. When the federal government department issued government orders making an attempt to reshape birthright citizenship beneath the 14th Amendment, Bonta rushed to file lawsuits to dam the order. The state launched comparable, headline-grabbing challenges when the federal authorities deployed National Guard troops to implement border security.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Bonta went to court docket to keep the money — however quietly dropped the case. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post
These legal antics have one other price. Newsom requested Trump for $40 billion in fire help — then signed laws to fund lawsuits in opposition to the administration.
That destroyed relations with the White House, and brought about Trump and the Republican Congress to carry back on help. Subtract one other $40 billion from Bonta’s supposed haul.
Republican Assemblymember Natasha Johnson introduced cold, arduous actuality back into the dialog when she criticized this wasteful prioritization. Johnson identified that whereas Bonta wastes inordinate sums selecting fights with Washington, state leaders declare there’s no money for the essential public security initiatives that Californians really voted for.
Specifically, Johnson highlighted Proposition 36, the overwhelming 2024 voter-approved public security measure designed to roll back soft-on-crime insurance policies. Despite a decisive mandate from voters who’re exhausted by rampant crime and open-air drug markets, Sacramento has offered little to no new funding to implement Prop 36 over the past couple of years.
Yet, magically, tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} seem out of nowhere the second Attorney General Bonta desires to file one other press-release lawsuit in opposition to federal cupboard secretaries.
This is the elemental disconnect destroying the Golden State. Average Californians are struggling each single day simply to keep the lights on. Families are reducing back on groceries and small companies are closing their doorways. Middle-class residents are packing up and fleeing the state in droves.
They are usually not asking for a state authorities that acts as a national resistance marketing campaign. Their calls for are more sensible. They need secure streets, purposeful faculties, inexpensive electrical energy and decrease taxes. But Gavin Newsom’s Sacramento has made its priorities painfully clear.
Taxpayers are footing the invoice for political grandstanding on the national stage whereas the state’s own failures proceed to pile up at home.
John Mac Ghlionn is a researcher and essayist.
