The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday to stop federal funding for high-speed rail in California.

The action is largely ceremonial, however, as the California High-Speed Rail Authority has not requested additional federal funding this year above the stimulus grants the agency is already spending.

That said, a rebuke by withdrawing additional federal money by the House certainly hurts the project’s future funding prospects.

‘I’m pleased to have the support of so many of my House colleagues who recognize that we shouldn’t be spending any more taxpayer money on a project without a future,” Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Modesto, said in a statement.

In response, the authority called the House action ‘just another ploy to delay the project.”

‘A project, which employees over 8,600 people in California. A project, which currently has 168 small businesses committed to do work on the program … a project which has 26 disabled veteran businesses committed for work … does Denham realize his actions hurt the very Veterans that he claims to assist?” authority spokeswoman Lisa Marie Alley wrote in an email.

Denham, who added the amendment to a transportation appropriation bill, chairs the House Transportation Committee’s Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Committee.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority continues to […]