Seeking to jump-start slow-moving House-Senate negotiations on a new surface transportation bill, Senate leaders have delivered a compromise proposal to their House counterparts. The plan—which Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and that committee's top Republican, James Inhofe (Okla.), personally took to the House on June 5—deals with highway, transit and safety portions of the bill. It doesn't include financing or non-transportation issues. That presumably means it is silent on a House proposal to spur approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Boxer, who chairs the joint conference committee, says the Senate offer reflects many of the House's views, but she didn't release the text or disclose details. A House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee spokesman says, "We are taking a look at that proposal and will discuss it with our conferees."