House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) yesterday gave the clearest indication yet that Congress will go with a short-term highway bill like the one the Senate is close to passing.

"The current plan is to see what the Senate can produce

and bring their bill up," Boehner said at his weekly press briefing.

While the Senate works on its two-year, $109 billion measure, House leaders will continue to discuss with members the five-year, $260 billion bill cleared by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Boehner said.

Even though most members would prefer a longer-term bill, as would the highway community, there are objections from both sides of the aisle about the funding levels and sourcing and other aspects of the bill.

Failing any resolution from those discussions, the House will bring up the Senate bill "or something like it," Boehner said.

The Senate is voting this week on some 30 amendments to its bill, and the indications are that once this work is done the measure will be approved. On Thursday, the Senate rejected a GOP plan to force Obama administration approval of construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline to transport oil from Alberta oil sands to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.

The House will be out of session next week, returning March 19. It has until March 31 to pass something that will keep the highway program going. If neither the Senate nor the House bills gets through, legislators will have to cobble another extension of the program - the ninth since the program officially expired in October 2009.

While there are marked differences between the bills, they share similar approaches to reforming the federal transportation program.

They eliminate earmarks, the mechanism by which individual legislators direct federal spending on local projects. They also consolidate the profusion of programs at the Department of Transportation, the Senate paring some 90 programs down to less than 30 and the House consolidating or eliminating almost 70 programs. The idea is to streamline the bureaucracy and make it more efficient.

In addition, both give states more control over money set aside for enhancement projects, such as bike paths and beautification. They take steps to expedite the delivery of highway projects. They also set performance management standards for states and metropolitan planning organizations.