to say that john mica has been pulled from the bill is a bit of an overstatement. it isn't entirely inaccurate to say that john boehner is looking to find whoever he can and bill schuster is a very good person to go and get the votes that he needs from the freshman members of congress. >> let's look over to the senate for a second. a two-year reauthorization bill. what can you tell us about the status there? >> well, it's going in a long, slow slug towards passage. they're debating about what the number and type of amendments that can be put on the bill. last i checked, they didn't have a deal on the -- on what those amendments would look like, aides on both sides think they will get one. most of the amendments that republicans are wanting to offer probably won't pass. so it's more a chance for making a political message. so eventually, i think, that they will pass that bill. it is a bipartisan bill. it passed out of the environment public works committee on a unanimous vote. there are some republicans who have a little bit of questions about the actual funding inv

well, in the house you're looking at a five-year $260 billion bill that will committee chairman john mica from florida introduced january 31st. and there were a number of issues in the bill that split off those moderate republicans, what they were irritated with was a canceling of the mass transit account which takes part of the highway trust fund money and puts it toward public transportation. a lot of moderate republicans representing suburban districts, that was a no go. a number of tea party freshmen who are concerned about the amount of money being spent in the bill have said that they can't support it either. democrats have pretty much panned the bill in total as they're in favor of the bill which is a two-year bill that spends $109 billion. there's no changes to the mass transit account. the big problem there, of course, it's not a very long-term bill which doesn't provide a lot of certainty for localities and states that the use road call money. >> the senate democratic leaders believe they have the upper hand on this issue. how and why? >> well, they believe they've got the upper

what is happening is thaton micah has been saying for weeks -- is that john mica has been saying for weeks and months he is in -- not in charge of the votes or funding, so to say he's been pulled from the bill is an overstatement but it's not entirely inaccurate to say thatboehner is looking to find whoever he can and bill shuster is a very good person to get the vote he is needs from the freshman members of congress. >> let's look to the senate for a second. much different bill a two-year re-authorization bill. what can you tell us about the status there? >> it's going on a long, slow slug toward passage. they're debating the number and type of amendments that can be put on the bill. last i checked, they didn't have a deal on the -- on what those amendments would look like but aides on both sides say they're getting close and i think they'll get one. most of the amendments that republicans are wanting to offer probably won't pass, so it's more a chance for making a political message. so eventually, i think they'll pass that bill. it's a bipartisan bill. it passed out of the environm

you look at washington, on the transportation committee, the speaker of the house had to remove john mica from being involved in the bill because of a revolt on the right within his own party. that has never happened in my recollection ncongressional history. the same thing is a problem here in the presidential race. there is noledder statesman to say, look, it is not your turn. wait four years. >> you know, tony, neither santorrum nor gingrich inclined to quit the race. call them stubborn, egotistical -- >> arguably. >> that's great for mitt romney, isn't it? >> sure. romney has a week or two to really enjoy the fact that newt gingrich and rick santorum both have not resolved their own inter-party fight. newt gingrich claims to have a big night. he won the biggest state, 70 delegates, his home state. in fact, he came in third i. 2-18, so far. >> he came in third in two other southern states and claims to run a southern strategy. that won't hold up. so you are going to have the more conservative, pro-santorum wing of the party really go to newt and try to get him -- >> even though it's go

. >> what are your reasons for favoring using government security officers at airports over john mica's privatization proposals? >> of course we have the project security richmond set up prior to 9/11, and i think tsa was created for the core purpose of preventing another 9/11. and so, philosophically at its core i can see tsa as a u.s. government run the organization with the counterterrorism focus and there are benefits of doing that that have been discussed. what has also been with the issues for me is what is this from a cost perspective that up until this point to have the privatized reports cost more from the u.s. tax payers because they're still paying the cost of the privatized screening and have to follow the same standard operating procedures and the sand particles that we use every other airport and that is one of the reasons we just haven't seen that many airports actually apply. we have 16 currently being run as privatized screening work forces san francisco being the largest. we have to new airports applied in the faa authorization bill which was included. the change in th

i thought jim demint wants to take us back to the articles which federation and john mica who opposed mightly the federal festess in 2010 are just not understanding the nature of construction. construction has a critical path. you have to start, you have to end. you have to have all these logistics in line. and if we are going to allow 10,000 bridges to remain substandard, we are going to allow high speed rail never to be built in this country, if we are going to dissolve amtrak, i wonder where we're going to be in the 21st century when we have people thinking like 19th and 18th century people. i understand your trade association is violetly involved. i wish you had been publicly involved earlier. but the failure to pass the senate bill or something close to it means we're at a standstill for the longest time as far as bridge maintenance and postponing the day when we have yet other collapses and closhurs. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> that's a very good point. i couldn't have said it better myself. one of the reasons that investment in transportation has such a big economic b

. >> what are your reasons for favoring using government secured officers at airports over john mica'sl? >> well of course you know, the private security regiment said that prior to 9/11, and i think tsa was created for the core purpose of preventing another 9/11. and so philosophically, at its core icc essay as a u.s. government run organization with counterterrorism focus. and there are benefits of doing that that have been discussed. what has also been one of the issues for me is from a cost perspective, that up until this point of the privatize airports, its cost more for the u.s. taxpayers because taxpayers are still paying the cost of the screen. they still have to follow the same operating procedures, same protocols that we use it every other airport. and i think that's one of the reasons we just haven't seen that many airports actually apply. we have 16 currently being run as privatized screening workforces, san francisco being the largest. we have had two new airports apply, the faa reauthorization bill which included a change in the way we treat applications, and so we will l

but a five-year bill drafted by john mica has stalled amid opposition from democrats and some republicans. rather than let transportation projects grind to a halt, lawmakers should pass the senate bill as the only bipartisan vehicle available. then they should start -- get started on fixing the problems before the next bill becomes due." so i think i've shown you -- let's put up the very, very last one here, because then we'll close on this. this one is from "the tampa bay times." this is a part of florida that is pretty red. i'll close with this one. house should fix partisan potholes and pass transit bill. with new signs overweek the recovery is taking hold congress should be rell hreurbg the chance to pass a transportation bill. but house republicans are more keen to continue waging ideological wars in the run-up to the election than to bring much-needed relief to america's commuters and to workers hard hit in the instruction industry. the house -- in the construction industry. the house should follow the senate's lead and pass the transportation bill without further delay. so, madam p