Transportation jumps to top of political agenda

WASHINGTON (AP) — After years of procrastination, the White House and Congress have suddenly boosted a long-term plan to improve the nation’s roads, bridges and transit systems to the top of the political agenda.

This week the House and Senate are set to take up vastly different bills providing a blueprint for shoring up the nation’s aging transportation system. Lawmakers are driven in part by a desire to show voters a major accomplishment in an election year when regard for Congress is at rock bottom. They are pitching the bills as jobs generators, although it may be more accurate to say they preserve jobs that might otherwise be lost if Congress doesn’t find a way to keep highway and transit programs solvent.