The 93 House and Senate conferees for the surface transportation bill have scheduled their first public meeting to begin the process of merging the two versions of the bill on June 9. Now that Congress has returned, lawmakers have 19 legislative days to work on reconciling the bills. The current short-term extension--the seventh since the law expired Sept. 30, 2003--will expire June 30.

Staff for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee have already held meetings and are expected to give lawmakers a list of lower-level policy issues to approve at the June 9 meeting. Staffers will soon reach a point where they can no longer negotiate until the biggest issue is taken care of - the total cost of the bill. At this point it is unclear as to how the debate over the differing costs of will shake out. The House passed a six-year bill at just under $284 billion. The Senate, on the other hand, passed a bill that climbs to about $295 billion - too high for President Bush who has vowed to veto the bill if it comes to his desk at that level.