A veto stuck in traffic

Scripps Howard News Service: Americans love rankings -- top-10 lists, etc. -- so it was a subject of considerable interest when a list of the nation's top traffic jams was released this week.
The citizens of Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago could take perverse civic pride in having their particular traffic bottlenecks finish one, two and three, although Los Angeles' boosters would prefer that companies contemplating a move there not dwell on the fact it had four traffic jams in the top 10.
It is perfectly human for motorists stuck in traffic to take some comfort in knowing that at least their particular traffic jam is nationally ranked. And this particular survey notes that the number of local traffic nightmares has increased 40 percent -- from 167 to 223 -- over five years.
A political jam
This timely attention to gridlock poses a political problem for President Bush. The president has decided to mend the error of his spendthrift ways by threatening to veto the renewal of the six-year federal highway bill if its spending is not close to the $256 billion he thinks it should be.
Alas, the Senate approved a $318 billion bill by the veto-proof margin of 76-21. And, even worse, the House is considering a $375 billion bill paid for in part by an increase in the gas tax, anathema to the White House.
The bottleneck survey was commissioned by an association of road builders, truckers, automakers and state highway departments. They note that seven of 1997's 18 top traffic jams had been eliminated thanks to a liberal application of federally funded concrete.
All of this is going to make the president's threat to veto the highway bill a very tough proposition indeed. Which, of course, is the whole point.