House and Senate transportation authorizers are hoping to move a 30-day extension of highway and transit programs, but might face opposition from House and Senate leadership. The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) expired last Sept. 30, and the third extension of the program is set to expire June 30. With lawmakers leaving town June 25 for a 10-day 4th of July recess, an extension must be sent to President Bush before then, or the program will lapse, resulting in the furlough of some 5,000 Federal Highway Administration employees.

Conference and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Senator James Inhofe's (R-Oklahoma) draft extension would statutorily run through the end of July, but practically until about July 23, which is the last day of the session before Congress adjourns for a five-week summer break that is longer than in past years to accommodate both the Democrat and Republican conventions. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) also is said to prefer a 30-day extension.

Leadership is floating the idea of a three-month extension to take the program through the end of September, which also is the end of fiscal year 2004. However, Inhofe, Young, and the Democrats are expected to oppose that plan because they want to keep the deadlines as tight as possible. There already is acknowledgement that given the slow pace of the ongoing conference committee, there is no way an agreement will be ready by July 23, but they want to keep the extensions short as a way of pushing the work to be done. Democrat leaders have said getting the work done as soon as possible is important, but noted that they cannot finish the conference nor delve too deep into the merits of the legislation until they resolve the overall funding issue.

Committee staffers have said if the leadership wants the extension to go beyond 30 days, they would have to tell the committee "as soon as possible" because it will need time to run the dollar amounts that would fund the various Transportation Department agencies and programs requiring reauthorization.

Conferees are scheduled to meet next Wednesday, June 23.