House members were upset over a Senate transportation provision that they said funneled too much money to California, Louisiana, Washington and Illinois; they extracted a promise from Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, to correct the allocation in a later bill.
Representatives sitting on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and senators involved in transportation policy will be attending an event sponsored by the American Trucking Associations, the American Bus Association, BNSF Railway, CSX Corporation and the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association on Wednesday evening.
A key state senator called the transportation money a "nonstarter".
("He is not a man of the people, this French-speaking windsurfer," says Richard Reeves of Senator Kerry -- transportation again).
While most of the talk was of transportation, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton made note of plans to erect a memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
PAGE A18 The Members and Maybes A look at: Maria Echaveste, being considered for secretary of labor; Ray LaHood, being considered for secretary of transportation; Senator Ken Salazar, chosen as secretary of the interior; Tom Vilsack, chosen as secretary of agriculture.
Chicago had strong allies to pursue federal funds for security and transportation: U.S. Senator Dick Durbin was the second in command among Democratic Senators as the Whip, and former Senator Barack Obama had become the President of the United States.
In a protest to the transportation board, Senator Schumer wrote, "There would be no end to the industrial facilities that happen to be on rail spurs and that will attempt to use the same technique to avoid environmental regulation".
During his brief tenure as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in 1993 and '94, Senator Moynihan wrote a transportation bill that allowed states to use highway financing for mass transit projects.
Although the tentative agreement is subject to approval by a vote on Thursday of lawmakers involved in the transportation budget, Senator Shelby has been the only one publicly opposed to letting regulators proceed immediately with their original plan.
