US News Metro Long Island Politics

Sports NFL MLB Olympics NBA NHL College Football College Basketball WNBA

Entertainment TV Movies Music Celebrities Awards Theater

Lifestyle Weird But True Sex & Relationships Viral Trends Human Interest Parenting Fashion & Beauty Food & Drink Travel

Health Wellness Fitness Health Care Medicine Men’s Health Women’s Health Mental Health Nutrition

Science Space Environment Wildlife Archaeology

Today’s Paper Covers Columnists Horoscopes Crosswords & Games Sports Odds Podcasts Careers

Email Newsletters Official Store Home Delivery Tips

Switch between CA and NY editions here.

California wasted $19 million suing Trump — and no, the numbers don’t add up

See more of our coverage in your search results.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that California has spent $19.2 million of taxpayer money fighting the Trump administration in court of the past 18 months.

Bonta made that sound like a great return on investment: $19.2 million on legal fees to protect $207.1 billion in federal funding — or so he says.

It’s not clear whether Bonta is counting his losses in that figure as well — like the $4 billion California lost when its high-speed rail project failed to meet project deadlines.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Bonta went to court to keep that money — but quietly dropped the case.

Regardless, Bonta’s claim reveals a deep, cynical misunderstanding of both basic economics and the financial pressures faced by ordinary Californians.

The $207.1 billion figure isn’t money Bonta “saved” or generated out of thin air. It represents routine, baseline federal program allocations — Medicaid matching funds, transportation grants and social safety net dollars — that flow through statutory formulas across the country.

Claiming sole credit for protecting billions in routine federal funding simply because his office attached California’s name to multi-state ideological lawsuits is a self-serving political fantasy.

Federal agencies routinely adjust, review or place administrative holds on grant conditions. The framing of a $200 billion rescue operation is designed to manufacture heroic headlines, not to reflect fiscal reality. 

Meanwhile, the $19.2 million spent on California’s lawsuits was real, cash-out-the-door taxpayer money. Every dollar Bonta burns in court is a dollar extracted directly from........

© New York Post