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The House is slated to vote as soon as today on a job-creation package that includes $27.5 billion for highways and $8.4 billion for transit, according to a transportation committee document obtained by Streetsblog Capitol Hill.

That funding divide mirrors the spending levels in this winter's economic stimulus law, which disappointed transit advocates as well as transport panel chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN), who charged the Obama administration with diverting funding to make room for tax cuts.

Oberstar "strongly supports" the new House legislation, however, according to a committee e-mail sent this afternoon which notes that infrastructure makes up half of the House's $75 billion jobs bill.

The bill's $37.3 billion in spending breaks down along the following lines:

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Halfway through this afternoon's rally in support of a new federal transportation bill, there came an accidental but telling moment. A group of tourists, attracted by the hundreds of orange flags planted in the National Mall for the rally, walked through the event and whispered questions to attendees about its purpose. Once their curiosity was sated, the group lost interest and ambled away.

The tourists may well have been speaking for most senior lawmakers on Capitol Hill, where this week's growing momentum towards a six-month timetable for taking up the next long-term infrastructure bill was abruptly squelched by GOP senators' inability to find consensus among their members.

As the subscription-only CQ reported today:

Efforts in the Senate to take up a six-month extension of surface transportation law this week appear dead, over objections by a few Republicans to passing it without a full debate, said James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, the ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

... Inhofe said Tuesday that at least two Republicans objected and that there is not enough floor time to finish a bill this week under normal procedure. 

The Senate's lack of progress means that officials working on the nation's transit, roads, bridges, and bike paths will likely have to continue operating under a second short-term extension of the 2005 transportation law, this time lasting until December 18.

Despite the prospects of continuing uncertainty on the local level, House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) remained upbeat and focused on a singular goal: getting his colleagues to elevate infrastructure to the top-of-mind status currently occupied by health care (followed by financial regulation and climate change).

"Encircle the White House," Oberstar advised the organizers of today's rally, who parked heavy-duty construction equipment along the sidewalk to symbolize their plea for more transportation spending. "Encircle the Senate!"

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Halfway through the extra month that Congress gave itself to resolve a long-simmering dispute over funding the nation's transportation system, Democratic leaders remain deadlocked over whether -- and how long -- to wait before debating a broad reform of federal infrastructure policy.

In one corner: House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN), who has enlisted most of his colleagues in the lower chamber in a push to pass new legislation replacing the outmoded 2005 infrastructure bill -- "a paean to the individual motorist," as Wired put it today.

But Oberstar's enthusiasm has not yet been met with action by the panel he needs most, the Ways and Means Committee.

Why is Ways and Means so important? The panel controls the funding source for transportation legislation, and chairman Charles Rangel has yet to see enthusiasm for his colleagues for making tough choices about raising revenue for infrastructure. Rangel told CQ this week:

Everyone is excited about a robust transportation bill. The enthusiasm is out there. We have not concluded that everyone is willing to pay for it and call it an emergency. 

Oberstar has done his part to rally the troops, publishing an op-ed in The Hill today that laments the "lack of political will" to tend to the nation's aging infrastructure, but little progress can be made until Ways and Means shows an appetite for diving into the funding question.

How much needs to be raised to pay for a new bill? There is an estimated $140 billion gap between expected grosses for the nation's highway trust fund, which pays for federal spending on transit as well as roads, and the investments envisioned in Oberstar's $450 billion measure.

That gap could be closed by a 10-cent per-gallon increase in the gas tax or by other means, though the former has pitfalls both political (Democrats have not worked on a counter-message to GOP pummeling on the issue) and practical (as Americans drive less in more efficient cars, the tax's value is waning).

In response to the dilemma, both parties have gotten creative. Rep. John Larson (CT), a Ways and Means member who also chairs the House Democratic caucus, has proposed taking unused money from the government's financial bailout for transportation. Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) spoke for a sizable group in his party today by suggesting that unused cash from the stimulus law go to infrastructure.

But both of those concepts would be little more than Band-Aids, given that congressional budget writers must rely on a steady source of funding when setting the "baseline" that governs the price tag of future federal transport bills. If the bailout or the stimulus were tapped this year, when the next long-term bill rolls around, the baseline would likely be low enough to cause serious havoc.

On the whole, the gas tax remains the only funding source that has attracted serious consideration, most recently from the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. The Obama administration, however, remains flatly opposed to an increase during the current recession. Speaking of the administration ...

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(ed. note: This post has been updated to reflect late-breaking news as of Wednesday afternoon.)

House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar's (D-MN) plan for a three-month extension of the 2005 federal infrastructure law, appears on track for a vote this afternoon, despite reports that GOP opposition unexpectedly derailed consideration of the bill.

A full copy of the bill is available here. But the bigger question of what happens next, with just three legislative days left until the nation's transportation law expires, remains unanswered.

Reports emerged this afternoon to suggest that the three-month extension had been pulled from from the House's "suspensions calendar," used to pass non-controversial bills that can obtain a two-thirds majority of the chamber.

"The Republican leadership is, for whatever reason, opposing our bill," Oberstar spokesman Jim Berard said in an interview. "I don't understand why -- it's a clean extension, no diff from the 12 extensions we did when we were working on SAFETEA-LU [the existing federal transportation bill] five years ago when Republicans were in charge."

But a GOP source told Streetsblog Capitol Hill that the three-month extension would be taken up on the suspensions calendar later today, generating even more uncertainty over the bill's ultimate fate. Meanwhile, two new wrinkles in the story are emerging this morning.

First, the subscription-only BNA newsletter reports that Oberstar's three-month proposal does not include language preventing the cancellation of $8.7 billion in highway contract authority, which is set to take effect next week unless Congress acts. The road lobby is growing increasingly concerned that it could lose out on the money, which Senate environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) promised to restore during floor debate over her proposed 18-month extension of transportation law.

Second, some doubt is beginning to emerge over whether Boxer's 18-month plan will pass this month. The Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin (D-IL), said yesterday that his colleagues are mulling over whether to pass a short-term or long-term extension of the 2005 transport law.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) also told Streetsblog Capitol Hill today that he has "been hearing that there may be just a three-month bill" agreed upon by both chambers of Congress.

With the House also sending the Senate a three-month extension of the law governing federal aviation programs, the upper chamber could decide to bundle the transportation and aviation measures together. Still, a short-term extension is unlikely to sit well with the Obama administration, which continues to seek an 18-month delay.

Streetsblog Capitol Hill has requested comment from Boxer's office on how she plans to proceed following the House's vote today. We'll update you as more becomes available.

A three-month extension of existing federal infrastructure law -- which is set to expire in eight days -- is headed for a vote in the full House this week, likely as soon as tomorrow, according to a spokesman for transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN).

Oberstar is preparing to formally introduce his three-month stopgap transport bill later today, spokesman Jim Berard told Streetsblog Capitol Hill. The bill is set to be considered on the House's "suspensions" calendar, limiting the time for debate and requiring a two-thirds majority for approval.

The House's decision to press onward with a three-month delay sets up a game of legislative chicken similar to the one that developed in late July, when Oberstar was still standing firm on his vow to produce a new transportation bill before September 30. That impasse ended with the Senate and White House prevailing and the nation's highway trust fund receiving a $7 billion infusion to keep it solvent until the end of this month.

Will this month's version end with the House again bowing to the Obama administration's preference that a new transport bill not be considered until early 2011? Now, as in July, the deck is stacked against the lower chamber of Congress. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business interests are behind Oberstar's three-month plan, but their lobbying in favor of a gas tax increase has not yet succeeded in rousing a reluctant Congress.

Meanwhile, the American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials, popularly known as the "road lobby," is concerned largely with averting a cancellation of $8.7 billion in federal funds that would automatically occur if the House and Senate do not reach an agreement by next week.

Stay tuned for more information on Oberstar's forthcoming extension plan.

House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) is readying a proposal to extend current infrastructure law by three months — 15 months less than the delay preferred by the White House — and could introduce the legislation as soon as next week, his office said today.

"It’s obvious that we’re running out of September," Oberstar spokesman Jim Berard told Streetsblog Capitol Hill, noting that lawmakers have become caught up by legislative battles over health care and climate change.

"We’re at a point where a decision has to be made: it’s either to extend for a short time or have the
whole system collapse," Berard added. "Under those circumstances of two bad choices," Oberstar is prepared to back a short-term extension rather than letting the 2005 federal transport bill expire at the end of the month.

A three-month delay, endorsed last week by Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-OR) would punt decision-making on transportation reform until just after New Year’s. Even then, revenue-raisers on the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee are still likely to face considerable obstacles in paying for Oberstar’s six-year, $500 billion legislation.

Berard acknowledged that the extension would have to be negotiated with House leaders as well as the White House and the Senate, both of which have already come out in favor of an 18-month delay. "We may, as early as next week, introduce a bill and start the process," he said.

That bill would be a "clean" extension," in Capitol parlance — omitting data collection money and other small-scale reforms that the Obama administration has proposed.

In case any doubts remained about his willingness to challenge the White House and the Senate on prompt passage of a long-term infrastructure bill, House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar's (D-MN) op-ed in the Politico Monday should clear them up:

Unfortunately, the administration and some in the Senate have suggested an 18-month extension of the existing surface transportation programs. This approach does little more than delay the critical reforms and difficult choices that must be made now.

Under this approach, come March 31, 2011, we would find ourselves faced with the same decisions, the same outdated and inefficient programs and even more costly investment needs in all modes of our transportation system. Moreover, given that the new deadline would come at the outset of a new Congress, additional extensions are inevitable.

Worst of all, failure to pass a long-term surface transportation authorization on time would bring significant uncertainty to states and MPOs that must plan critical projects years in advance. They require long-term funding assurances and stability from their federal partners to proceed in this process.

Oberstar's commentary is strongly worded, but it stops short of vowing to stand in the way of a shorter-term delay in taking up a new federal transportation bill -- an outcome that appears all but certain given the nine legislative days remaining until current law expires on September 30.

"Delay for the sake of delay is unacceptable," Oberstar concludes in the op-ed. That framing opens the door, if slightly, to a compromise on a delay that would give Congress' revenue-raising committees (Senate Finance and House Ways and Means) more time to devise a stable funding source for the bill.

Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-OR), Oberstar's chief subcommittee chairman, told The Hill on Friday that he hoped to see a three-month extension, which would put off work on a new bill until just after New Year's. Others in the capital believe a 12-month extension, as proposed by Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), would have a stronger chance of success.

But DeFazio reiterated that Oberstar has yet to weigh in with his preferred timeframe. In the meantime, the chairman is getting backup from a broad array of transportation interest groups that operate under the aegis of the Freight Stakeholders Coalition.

The coalition held a press conference this morning to reiterate its support for passage of a new long-term infrastructure bill this year. The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) was absent from the lineup, but representatives of the highway, rail, trucking, and port lobbies were in attendance, as was the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations.

Appearing this morning at the release of a new report on transportation's role in fighting climate change, House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) challenged the Obama administration to back up their emissions rhetoric with action and pass his six-year, $450 billion infrastructure bill.

After U.S. DOT deputy secretary John Porcari and Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff delivered laudatory remarks about the Moving Cooler report, a joint project of government agencies and environmental groups, Oberstar took the stage with pointed words for the two senior officials.

"They need to ... catch up with the House" on transportation policy-making, Oberstar said of Porcari and Rogoff, who were sitting within spitting distance of the chairman.

"If you don't pass our bill, you're not going to get a head start on these strategies" for reducing the carbon footprint of the transportation sector, Oberstar told the White House aides.

He added: "The president gets it -- the crowd around him doesn't."

The White House continues to press for an 18-month postponement of the next long-term transportation bill, which Oberstar asserts could drag reform past the two-year mark and continue an inequitable system that favors new highway construction over transit. 

"When highway planners sit down to build a roadway," Oberstar said today, "they don't go through the gymnastics of a cost-effectiveness index," as transit planners are currently required to do. "They sit down, get the money, and build a road."

Expanding transit, the House chairman concluded, is difficult "if you've got a millstone around your neck."

Yet the House bill has a millstone of its own obstructing movement: the lack of revenue to fund a doubling in new transit investment and other Oberstar priorities. As Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) acknowledged this morning, hiking the federal gas tax -- which has remained at 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993 -- will not be feasible until the recession dissipates.

"We are going to raise gas and diesel taxes sometime in the next decade," Blumenauer said, but "not while the economy is in freefall."

After weeks of uncertainty and tension, the congressional impasse over long-term transportation funding is headed for resolution this week — but the reprieve may be temporary.

When we last left House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN), he was calling for a $3 billion fix for the nation’s highway trust fund. That low number is intended to keep the pressure on the White House to reconsider its push for upwards of $20 billion to postpone an overhaul of national transport policy until early 2011.

Oberstar has claimed a powerful ally in Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who reiterated her support for a six-year transportation bill during her weekly press briefing on Thursday. But Pelosi sought to downplay any hint of a rift with the Senate, which has already acted on the Obama administration’s 18-month stopgap plan.

"Oh, eventually we will have a transportation bill," Pelosi said. "It is
just a question if we take it in a smaller dose or a bigger dose."

The question is a huge one to both transportation reform advocates, who are hoping for a new bill that boosts transit funding and state-level accountability, and business groups that are counting on long-term legislation to help boost their fiscal health during an economic recession.

And it’s a question that may be answered within days. The House is set to leave for its month-long August recess by the weekend, making the fate of the highway trust fund a suddenly high priority.

The Senate plans to remain in Washington until around August 7, but its transportation funding plan is moving forward quickly. On Thursday afternoon, the Banking Committee became the last panel in the upper chamber of Congress to sign off on the White House’s 18-month postponement.

Even as that was occurring, however, Banking chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) said he would prefer a six-month extension of the existing transportation law.

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Leaders of the House transportation committee, doggedly pursuing a six-year, $450 billion infrastructure bill this year, pressed their case this morning before Ways and Means Committee colleagues who must approve a new funding mechanism for their massive legislation.

"We should have indexed a long time ago the highway user fee" -- also known as the gas tax -- transportation panel chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) told the Ways and Means revenue panel. "But that got lost in the process."

Oberstar asked Ways and Means members to okay a $3 billion patch for the highway trust fund, which is expected to run dry next month.

That course would postpone until September the House's transportation-funding battle with the White House and the Senate, where 18 months of stopgap funding is almost certain to be approved within two weeks.

Ways and Means has dedicated most of its time and energy to health care reform this summer, leading to widespread speculation that transportation would fall by the wayside. But Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), chairman of Ways and Means' revenue panel, told Oberstar that he was on the transportation committee's side.

"I share your position that we should go forward" with a bill this year, Neal told Oberstar.

Yet the chairman of the full Ways and Means committee, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), has yet to throw his weight behind Oberstar's goals. Without Rangel's muscle, the thorny question of how to pay for a new transportation bill would be almost impossible to resolve by the end of September.

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