Though faced with a Bush administration veto threat, the House has approved a six-year transportation bill that would obligate $275 billion over six years for highway and transit programs. The vote, at about mid-day on April 2, was 357-65. The measure next must be reconciled in a conference committee with the $318-billion version the Senate passed in February.
Before the vote, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska), the bill's sponsor, called it "a very good piece of bipartisan legislation." He said that the $275 billion "does not completely do the job" of providing enough money for roads and transit, but he added that it was "a step forward."