2009 Transportation Bill

The short answer: Nope.

Health care and transportation funding are very different items on Congress' to-do list, but the Washington Post's assessment of the former issue fits the latter as well: Lawmakers return today from a month-long recess to find a political landscape that has barely shifted from the impasse of late July.

Acrimonious opposition to health care reform has become the biggest political story of an otherwise sleepy August, but that doesn't mean grassroots lobbying on the House's transportation bill has evaporated.

The Senate began debate this morning on the $7 billion rescue of the nation's highway trust fund that was passed by the House late yesterday, with four GOP amendments slated for a vote.

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.

Having entertained legislators' own ideas about how best to fund future transportation spending, the House Ways and Means committee turned to representatives from the administration and key interest groups today to hear their thoughts on the matter.

It's no secret that key leaders of the House transportation panel and the White House economic team don't get along -- from quips about shovel skills to a stimulus "shouting match," committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) and his top lieutenant, Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-OR), have become two of their party's leading Obama administration skeptics.

The House of Representatives subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia convened yesterday afternoon to hear testimony related to the tragic Washington Metro accident of June 22.

An 18-month extension of existing transportation law cleared the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today, but not before spirited debate on a proposal billed as a compromise with House members who remain strongly opposed to the Senate's stopgap.