SAFETEA-LU as political football

The passage of SAFETEA-LU brings to the aggregates and construction markets a sense of stability, and a confidence level that during two years of temporary extensions, simply did not exist. That's a positive development. Fortunately, the market did well despite the uncertainties. In retrospect, I have come to believe that the White House used the transportation bill as a political football. By threatening a veto, the administration got a lot of mileage out of its "fiscal responsibility" claim -- which it clearly hasn't exhibited in other spending areas. The media also helped out their case quite a bit, with its overly extravagant reporting on the "pork" in the bill. Also, from the timing-is-everything department, the administration used the bill as capital, making sure there were enough congressional votes for the energy bill and CAFTA before signaling its support for the transportation package. Maybe I'm being a bit too territorial, but I get irritated when i consider that so important a bill was used as a hostage. Alas, such is the nature of the Washington beast. Your comment?