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President Obama unveiled his plan yesterday to fund high-speed rail systems in 10 regions across the country, using $8 billion of the Economic Recovery funds. The Federal Railroad Administration will disseminate the funds as early as this summer, to projects in Chicago, Florida, the Pacific Northwest, and here in California. Last year, voters in this state passed a proposition to issue nearly $10 billion in bonds to partially fund a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. In addition to the $8 billion down payment, the President has approved spending $1 billion a year for the next five years for future rail systems. But critics argue that the money is not enough to fully fund the projects. Here in California, the cost of high-speed rail would run about $45 billion. Countries like Japan have had high-speed rail for decades.

GUEST: Emily Rusch, San Francisco CALPIRG