The House and Senate will both likely hold final floor votes on their respective transportation bills this week, setting up would could be a contentious negotiation between the two chambers.

The road is likely less rocky for the Senate's plan to spend $109 billion on road and transit projects over the next two years. The upper chamber last week held its first floor vote, to end debate on the measure. The bill received 85 votes.

By contrast, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has acknowledged that the vote on his $260 billion transportation bill, which lasts five years, could be significantly closer.

"Will it pass? For the good of the country, I sure hope so," Boehner said last week during a speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington.

Senate Republicans want to add an amendment to the highway bill that would mandate construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

House Republican leaders are desperately searching for the votes to pass their transportation bill this week.

Labor’s division over the bill funding the Federal Aviation Administration has cleared the way for President Obama to sign it.

A pair of unions said Friday they would enter into a partnership to more effectively bargain for transportation workers.

The partnership, between the parent group of the union for flight attendants and a union that represents airline, transit and rail workers, comes on the heels of Congress approving a funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration that some said they could live with and others strongly opposed.

But the Washington-based Communication Workers Association and Transit Workers Union said they would be more effective at lobbying lawmakers if they worked together.

The move eschews a $260B measure House GOP leaders offered as their counter to Obama's call for a jobs bill.

Public transportation supporters could lose a dedicated source of funding for transit agencies if the House's $260 billion transportation bill becomes law, but they could regain a tax benefit for commuters that ended at the beginning of the year if the Senate's $109 billion version of the measure is approved.
 
The transportation bill that was cleared for a final vote by the Senate on Thursday would restore a tax benefit for commuters that ended at the beginning of the year.

The House version of the transportation bill, the American Energy and Infrastructure Act (H.R. 7), would eliminate a trust fund for mass transit and redirect 2.86 cents of the federal gas tax that traditionally goes toward public transportation to highway spending.

But the Senate's version of the measure, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (S. 1813), includes a provision to renew language that was in the 2009 economic stimulus package that allowed public transit users to set aside $230 per month before taxes for commuting expenses.

Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry invoked a controversial Chrysler Super Bowl commercial, saying he was "afraid" of President Obama being the country's second-half quarterback.

Speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., Thursday, Perry, who withdrew from the presidential race days before the South Carolina primary last month, invoked the "It's Halftime, America" Chrysler commercial some conservatives have argued was an endorsement for Obama's bailout of the auto industry. 

“If it’s halftime in America, then I’m fearful what the final score is going to be if we let this president start the second half,” Perry said in reference to the commercial that features actor Clint Eastwood.

The Senate overwhelmingly voted to end debate on its $109 billion transportation bill Thursday, setting in motion a march toward a final vote on the measure as early as next week.

In an 85-11 vote, the Senate invoked cloture on the measure, which has been dubbed the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century bill.

The vote to proceed on the measure on Thursday was expected, but the margin was larger than sponsor Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) predicted in the minutes before lawmakers began casting their ballots.

"Maybe I'm just dreaming here, but I'm hoping for well over 60 votes to go forward," she said.

By the time the voting was finished, Boxer was lauding the bipartisanship that led to the bill winning 85 votes. 

"This is a tremendous vote — to move forward with one of the most important jobs bills we could move in this session," Boxer said. "[T]his is a good vote. Now the true test comes as we have a lot of work to do to complete this legislation, to make it real, to get that certainty out there to get these jobs going."

Boxer warned lawmakers to not offer unnecessary amendments to the bill, saying it could get bogged down in what she called "extraneous matters." 

"Please do not mess up this bill," she said. 

Boxer said she and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, would oppose amendments unless they both agreed they would add to the transportation bill.