The Biden-era holdover at the Department of Transportation isn’t messing around: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the federal government will withhold roughly $160 million from California after the state failed to cancel more than 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses issued to non-domiciled applicants by the agreed January 5 deadline. The FMCSA’s final determination says California allowed drivers whose lawful status had expired or who were otherwise ineligible to keep operating heavy commercial vehicles, a clear breach of federal safety rules. This is enforcement of the rule of law, not partisan theater.
Governor Newsom’s administration tried to play politics and stall — the California DMV pushed the revocations back to March after litigation from activist groups, effectively putting the wishes of left-wing advocates ahead of Americans’ safety. That delay was unacceptable to federal officials who say the extension was unilateral and not part of the compliance plan they had agreed to. Californians shouldn’t pay for a governor’s virtue-signaling, and Washington was right to call the bluff.
This crackdown didn’t come out of thin air; the nationwide FMCSA audit was triggered by deadly crashes involving unauthorized drivers, and investigators found licenses that remained valid long past the expiration of a driver’s legal U.S. residence. The central issue here is simple: heavy trucks, school buses, and fuel tankers should be driven by drivers who meet federal legal and safety standards, not by people whose presence in the country is in question. No progressive slogan can trump basic public safety.
Practically speaking, the FMCSA is withholding about $158.3 million — roughly 4 percent of funds that would flow through the National Highway Performance Program and the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program starting in fiscal year 2027 — until California cleans up its mess. Secretary Duffy has previously warned California and already hit the state over English-proficiency failures, so this isn’t a one-off temper tantrum; it’s a sustained effort to make federal funds contingent on following the law. If states pick winners and losers based on politics, Congress and the administration must respond in kind.
Conservative patriots should applaud an administration that enforces immigration and safety rules rather than letting sanctuary politics endanger Americans on the highways. This is about accountability: governors who prefer headlines over hard work must not be allowed to turn federal money into a slush fund for political posturing. Secretary Duffy stood up for everyday Americans whose lives are put at risk when rules are ignored, and that kind of leadership deserves support.
If Washington allows states to flout federal standards without consequence, the result is predictable — eroding safety, strained supply chains, and the erosion of trust in government. It’s time for voters to demand road safety and rule-of-law enforcement from their leaders, and to hold Gavin Newsom and other soft-on-law politicians to account at the ballot box.
