President Obama apportioned US$8 billion in his 2009 US$831 billion stimulus package for rail improvements. The money was aimed at jump-starting the construction of US high-speed rail systems. But the plan largely collapsed after Republican governors in Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida and other states who opposed the stimulus on ideological grounds returned the money. Part of the appropriation is being used for preliminary construction of a high-speed rail network linking San Francisco and Los Angeles. But the project is currently stalled because of funding shortfalls, technical and right-of-way issues.