Reauthorization

The 47 members of the transportation bill conference committee have a lot on their plates: The Senate's MAP-21 bill includes many provisions Republicans don't like, the House slapped controversial "poison pills" onto its non-bill, and chair Barbara Boxer wants this all wrapped up in a few weeks.

Last week, I published a list of seven questions I had as the Transportation Conference Committee started meeting. I was examining the politics, not the policy. Turns out some readers wanted to hear more about the policy.

5:41 Adjourned. Thanks for following our live-blog coverage -- all 3,276 words of it.

The first meeting of the transportation bill conference committee is today at 3:00. (To familiarize yourself with the participants, see Ben's reports on the House and Senate conferees.) We'll be live-blogging it, beginning to end.

The transportation news has been flying out of Chicago lately. Last week, in a 41-9 vote, the City Council approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Chicago Infrastructure Trust, which will be used to build projects with private financing. Earlier this week, Emanuel and transportation commissioner Gabe Klein just unveiled a plan for a downtown bus rapid transit loop that will serve six different routes. Those bus lanes will open within two years. In the meantime, 2012 will see the inauguration of a 300-station bike share system and the city's first enhanced bus service on Jeffrey Boulevard.

Last night, the names of the House delegates to the transportation bill conference committee were released. The 33 members -- 20 Republicans, 13 Democrats -- will join the 14 Senators already named to the panel, and will be tasked with hammering out a compromise before transportation policy expires on June 30.

The Senate unveiled its list of conference committee delegates yesterday to a widespread lack of surprise.

The Senate has designated the 14 members who will represent the upper chamber on the transportation bill conference committee. The House will designate its own conferees soon, and the entire group will be tasked with reconciling the differences between the Senate's two-year bill and the 90-day "dirty" extension passed by the House last week.

If 80 percent of the American people agree that federal infrastructure investment will create jobs, and two-thirds say better infrastructure is important, why is the call for a robust transportation bill being made in whispers? And why is Congress already two and a half years late in producing one?