The White House formally threatened a veto of the House version of a surface transportation bill, opening the question of whether any long-term bill will get signed before March when current funding on roads and bridges expires. Between the terrible House version and the Senate’s, it’s choosing between one with a bunch of disastrous elements, and another which has none of those but which is too small for the task at hand.

The House GOP caucus definitely wants to try to force the issue on the Keystone XL pipeline with another vote. What’s not yet clear is where they want to place the rider. If they choose to attach it to payroll tax cut/UI legislation, that’s an indicator that they really want it to pass. If not, it’s an indicator that they just want to talk about it some more.

Democrats have tweaked the pay-for on the American Jobs Act, making it a straight surtax on millionaires, rather than the other pay-fors on itemized deductions and closing the carried interest loophole. In other words, they altered a tax on the rich and turned it into another tax on the rich with a better slogan next to it.

Last night, it didn’t look as if the Senate would be able to get the clean extension of both the FAA authorization and the surface transportation authorization before a deadline of today. Tom Coburn was holding up the bill in a fruitless crusade against bike paths. It’s a long story.

The attempt to meet looming deadlines and avoid shutdowns of part (or all) of the government resembles the aftermath of a car wreck right now. It’s unclear whether the Senate can move the broken-down vehicles off the road in time to let the traffic move through.

I think Republicans are showing themselves sensitive to criticism over hostage-taking, at least in the short term. It did damage to their party in the debt limit debate, and they’re wary of jumping into another fight of a similar ilk. The next hurdles to clear will be 2012 appropriations and surface transportation funding, both of which expire September 30.

The White House is getting an early jump on the House Republicans’ next potential hostage-taking event, and perhaps learning something in the process. In an event today, flanked by AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka, Chamber of Commerce COO David Chavern and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, President Obama will call for a clean extension of the Highway Trust Fund, which is set to expire at the end of September. Rather than cutting the surface transportation budget, rather than pre-compromising on a level of cuts, the President will demand a clean bill at present levels.

There’s a growing threat a hostage-taking situation over the transportation funding bill, which expires September 30. That and related non-funding Congress could shut down thousands of jobs in transportation-related construction.