The end of the road?

According to NSSGA, conferees and staff appear to be nearing completion of work on reconciling the House and Senate TEA-21 reauthorization bills. The overall guaranteed funding level of the bill, for highway and transit, is reportedly slightly over $286 billion. There is general agreement among all parties that a surface transportation reauthorization bill will be finalized by July 29 and the start of the summer recess. My take? It's been a long hard road, and to end up at only $286 billion is very disappointing. Your comment?