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LaHood: Boehner needs to 'show a little leadership' on highway bill
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Wednesday blasted House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), telling him to "step up and show a little leadership" in the debate over a new federal highway bill.
Appearing on liberal commentator Bill Press' radio show Wednesday, LaHood chided Boehner for attempting to pass a short-term extension of the current funding for transportation projects instead of holding a vote on the Senate's two-year version of the highway measure.
"Speaker Boehner can't get his troops together," said LaHood, who previously served in the House as a Republican lawmaker with Boehner before being appointed Transportation secretary by President Obama.
"What he needs to do is step up and show a little leadership," LaHood said of Boehner. "He could put moderate Republicans — he could get them to vote for this bill — get a hundred Democrats who have agreed to vote it and pass the Senate bill. That would be good for America."
LaHood said Boehner "doesn't want to pass a bill with Democrats because that would be embarrassing to him.
"And he can't pass it as long as he's got these 40-50 intransigent conservatives who do not want to do anything," LaHood said of Boehner's plan to rely on Republican votes to pass the transportation measure.
The House had been scheduled to try a third attempt Wednesday to pass a short-term highway extension, but the measure is listed as postponed on the most recent calendar released by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's (R-Va.) office.
The previous attempts on Monday and Tuesday to pass a 90-day and 60-day extension, respectively, were pulled after it appeared GOP leaders did not have the required two-thirds vote to consider the measure under a suspension of the House rules.
If lawmakers do not extend the highway legislation by the end of the week, the federal government will be unable to collect the federal gas tax that is normally used to fund transportation projects.
