House and Senate negotiators agreed last night to fund the surface transportation reauthorization bill at $286.5 billion. This figure is much closer to the House bill which called for $284 billion in funding. However, it appears that the Senate won concessions on funding earmarks and will be able to make requests totaling 40% of total earmarks as opposed to about 20% as they have done in past reauthorizations.

While it appears that this major hurdle has now been crossed, it will still be a struggle for conferees to complete their work and have both chambers pass the conference report by the June 30 deadline. However, conferees will continue to meet today in an effort to avoid another extension.