Republican leaders in the House and Senate were unable to resolve their differences with the White House over funding totals in the transportation reauthorization bill last night and admitted they will have to work out the funding total in conference. Whether lawmakers will actually be able to go to conference remains to be seen, as Senate Democrats are refusing to let Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) name conferees, a matter that could be put to a vote later this week. Despite recent indications that the White House would support a $275 billion bill, up from its previous funding ceiling of $256 billion, Republican lawmakers and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card failed to reach an agreement during a meeting that began late in the day of May 4.

The Bush administration has threatened to veto both S. 1072, the $318 billion Senate bill, and H.R. 3550, the $284 billion House-passed measure. Both bills exceed the administration's preferred $256 billion spending total, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) and Frist do not want to force the White House to veto popular, job-creating legislation in an election year.

On April 29, the White House met with the Republican leadership and agreed the three sides should come to an agreement on the funding total for the transportation bill before proceeding with the conference to reauthorize the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). However, lawmakers abandoned that approach following yesterday's meeting.

It is unclear whether GOP Senators will be able to overcome the objections of Senate Democrats and proceed to conference. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) is expected to continue blocking attempts to go to conference until he has a guarantee that the Senate number will be preserved and that Democrats will be included in the conference. Daschle is continuing to push for a "preconference" of the bill, fearing that without Democrats' involvement, GOP leaders will bow to pressure from President Bush and agree on a smaller funding total than was passed by either chamber. Daschle agreed last week to a cloture vote this week on the motion to proceed to conference, although Frist has not yet set aside time for the vote.

The cloture vote, which needs 60 votes to pass, will be held on the motion to conference the House transportation bill, the first step in a multistage process of naming conferees. Typically, lawmakers move towards conference by passing these motions by unanimous consent, but Senate Democrats have refused to comply.

It has been reported that the White House did not want to entertain suggestions of a five-year bill, which should quash speculation that with fiscal year 2004 half done, the administration might support a $256 billion bill over five years.