Streetsblog Los Angeles

The House is slated to vote this afternoon on a three-month extension of the 2005 federal infrastructure law, as proposed yesterday by transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN).

A full copy of the bill, expected to pass easily, 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. 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.

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.