Ben Goldman

Congress has five days in which to pass an extension of transportation funding. That means there will be a flurry of activity on the Hill this week to avoid a shutdown of federal transportation programs on April 1. (It also means there will also be a flurry of "April Fools" references directed by and at opposing political parties on the House and Senate floors.)

Reps. John Mica, Dave Camp, and John Duncan have formally introduced a bill that would extend federal transportation programs until June 30, without any changes to funding, policy, or gas taxes. It is officially known as H.R. 4239.

The League of American Bicyclists welcomed a record crowd to the 2012 National Bike Summit this morning. Over 800 attendees filled the basement of the Grand Hyatt Metro Center in Washington to hear remarks from federal lawmakers and officials about the state of bike advocacy in America -- so large a crowd that president Andy Clarke said that next year the LAB's sights are set on the much larger Walter E. Washington Convention Center, just two blocks away.

Something to keep in mind while the House GOP leadership toys with the idea of sending national transportation policy back to the 1950s…

The House of Representatives is back in town, and its members still don't have a transportation bill. In fact, they probably won't have one for weeks. But two groups holding conferences in Washington this week would be more than happy to help them out in the meantime.

Now that the Senate has passed a transportation bill and everyone's waiting to see what the House will do next, Transportation for America has done us all a great service and compared the Senate's bill to the House's -- well, to the last thing the House showed us before things fell apart for John Boehner's extreme attack on transit, biking, and walking.

The Senate transportation bill has finally passed by a vote of 74 to 22. In a show of bipartisan support, which this bill has largely enjoyed from start to finish, 22 Republicans voted for its passage.

Add Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff to the list of people saying that it's premature to declare victory over the House's attempts to cast transit into the abyss. Rogoff knows a thing or two about transportation bills: He was an aide on the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee for 20 years, during which time the federal government passed three long-term transportation laws.

This morning, at the American Public Transportation Association's annual legislative conference, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said he was recently asked by the House Appropriations Committee if he prefers a two-year transportation bill or a five-year transportation bill. Neither, he said: "I prefer a bipartisan bill."

The leaders of each political party in the Senate have reached a deal on their two-year, $109 billion transportation bill, clearing the way for as many as 10 votes on amendments to the bill later today.