In May, the Secretary of Transportation talked with Blueprint America for the Road to the Future documentary on PBS. Sec. LaHood's comments illustrate that the Administration wants transportation reform, but just not now -- especially if it means raising the gas tax in these economic times.

Rep. Jim Oberstar (D., MN), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has been at odds with the Obama Administration on when to take up his recently introduced transportation bill: THE SURFACE TRANSPORTATION AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2009.

When the stimulus bill was passed last February, it sent billions of dollars to the nation's mass-transit agencies. Still, the money was purposed for only new equipment and construction -- nothing to operate the systems, even as many are cutting service, laying off workers or raising fares.

Chairman Jim Oberstar (D., MN) and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released the full 775-page Transportation Bill text.

Expiring on October 1, the law authorizing federal highway and transit programs was expected to be renewed sometime this legislative session. This past Wednesday, however, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asked for an 18 month extension of the transportation law that would delay the planned reauthorization past the 2010 congressional midterm elections.

President Barack Obama has called for the creation of a National Infrastructure Bank. The intention: To create a structure so public works projects could be, according to the President while campaigning last year, “determined not by politics, but by what will maximize our safety and homeland security; what will keep our environment clean and our economy strong.” Still, it is unclear how a National Infrastructure Bank would function -- or even be established.

Blueprint America looks at the possibility of the Bank -- both the design and implementation of -- in interviews with Felix Rohatyn, author of Bold Endeavors: How our government built America, and why it must rebuild now, and Stan Hazelroth, Executive Director of the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank. Additionally, a breakdown of the progress of the National Infrastructure Bank so far.

President Obama’s high-speed rail plan is noble but sounds like and is today just a way to speed trips between certain cities (10 corridors at the moment). That’s just too short-sighted. We need a vision that links the country, all the major urban centers, together with high-speed rail.

Some $120 billion will be spent on infrastructure as a part of the $787 billion economic stimulus package passed by Congress. The establishment of a National Infrastructure Bank was not included in the final recovery plan. As a result, other than an overall stimulus in infrastructure spending by the federal government, the funding practices for public works projects – largely for highways and mass transit – remain the same. Still, it is not yet clear how a National Infrastructure Bank would function.

A breakdown of the progress of the National Infrastructure Bank so far

A breakdown of provisions and funding requirements for mass transit in The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Established by the Obama Administration, Recovery.gov will track the $787 billion from the economic stimulus bill with the purpose of holding the federal government accountable with the public's money. This increased transparency is intended to enable the tax-payer to follow where the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going.

As President Barack Obama signed the stimulus bill in Denver on Tuesday, it released the biggest influx of federal dollars since the Great Society program of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Unlike LBJ, President Obama – working with less of a Democratic majority – ultimately had to make significant concessions to Congressional moderates and Republicans to pass the bill.