Reauthorization

If you were still hoping a real bill could come out of the transportation conference, here’s a bitter pill: House Speaker John Boehner is now talking about a six-month extension of the current law.

If you've been following the ongoing transportation bill saga, then you know there's a fair amount of gamesmanship going on in Congress right now -- lots of political posturing, little progress on substantive policy. Here's a great new example of what the House GOP has been up to instead of passing a transportation bill:

Sen. Barbara Boxer's noon press conference started out as a bit of a mess. The Senate press gallery announced it was canceled five minutes before it was due to start. Then three minutes later, the EPW committee sent out a notice that the event had changed locations and would start 20 minutes later. Needless to say, there was much confusion.

Sen. Barbara Boxer is due to speak to reporters in about an hour about the goings-on in the conference committee. The mood has turned dark in the past few days, but she’s kept a positive attitude, saying, “It’s been wonderful.”

Politico Pro Transportation put out a news blast today that threw some light into the inky shadows of the conference committee process, and what we saw there doesn't look too pretty. Apparently Sen. Barbara Boxer has reason to believe negotiations aren't going so well, "after a House GOP conferee criticized her for 'stonewalling' the lower chamber":

A coalition of 70 organizations, including the US Conference of Mayors, American Heart Association, and the National PTA, have signed on to a letter from America Bikes urging Congress to preserve the Cardin-Cochran amendment -- a provision in the Senate transportation bill that allows local agencies to directly access funds street safety projects. The letter is addressed to the 33 House members and 14 Senators on the transportation bill conference committee. Neither co-sponsor of the original amendment is on the committee.

The Senate has left town for their traditional late-May nine-day weekend, while the House has just returned from their own week off. Amid these comings and goings, work continues on the transportation bill, which has been concealed inside the conference committee's secret underground lair since the beginning of May.

Although Senate Republicans had hoped the carefully crafted compromise over the Transportation Enhancements program would stand, some House members are stating their insistence that the program be stripped out entirely in conference.