by Elana Schor

A bipartisan bid to extend existing federal transportation law for three months — and tap the TARP bailout fund to avert the cancellation of $8.7 billion in contract authority — was rejected on the Senate floor last night after GOP senators insisted on using stimulus money, rather than bailout cash, to fix the problem.

The drama played out hours before the midnight deadline for preserving the $8.7 billion, the majority of which would go toward state road and bridge work. Senate environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and her panel's senior Republican, Sen. Jim Inhofe (OK), agreed with their respective party leaders to shift $300 million in bailout money as a temporary fix to prevent state DOTs from canceling projects.

But the GOP side of the aisle objected, with Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) insisting that the chamber vote on Sen. David Vitter's (R-LA) proposal to patch the transportation contracting gap with unused money from the Obama administration's economic stimulus law.

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Additional Sources:

• Texas Dept. of Transportation: TxDOT to Lose $742 Million in Federal Funding