Last week I got the opportunity to sit down and talk to Senator Lowenthal. I was excited to talk to the senator because he is barely in the office and this opportunity is rare. But most of all I get to hear what is going on in our state from the perspective of someone who has a huge influence on California and someone I wish to be like someday. The new and information I got from the Senator was far more detailed than what I would get from any other media source.

Personally talking to the Senator about high speed rail, he made it very clear that this issue would be heavily discussed in the legislature for years to come. I personally agree with high speed rail because I believe that it will benefit our state.

Senator Lowenthal is a chair overseeing the Transportation Committee in the Senate. After hearing him speak,I learned that President Obama made it a priority to have high speed rail across the United States. England, France, China, Japan, and Korea have it so the US must have it also to keep up to date with the world's technology. Thanks to California voters passing Prop 1A last year, funding was able to go into high speed rail. So when high speed rail does happen in the US it will start here in California. Currently, the planned route of the high speed rail is from San Francisco to Los Angeles and later it will extend to Anaheim, San Diego, and cities in central California. Right now, the state has 12 billion dollars in the account for high speed rail, which is no where close to the 40 billion needed to complete the project.

There are doubts as to whether high speed rail will bring in revenue for the state or just create deficits. In essence this project can make or break California. Past studies have shown that high speed rail will bring in large revenues, however, a UC Berkeley study conducted a month ago showed that these studies were inaccurate. To further complicate the topic China, Japan, and France are competing to build their system in the US.

As a young college student with dreams of becoming a legislature, I realize that I should greatly educate and familiarize myself with high speed rail and the arguments opposing and supporting it. Because if I ever do become a law maker or get involved in politics in any way, high speed rail will most likely still be a hot topic.