House and Senate appropriators have decided to include a provision in the conference report on the fiscal 2007 emergency spending bill rescinding some authorized federal highway funding to pay for emergency road repairs elsewhere, despite objections from a key House lawmaker.

The conference agreement on a $124.2 billion emergency spending bill (HR 1591), expected to be filed later today, will provide $683 million to fund a backlog of projects through the Federal Highway Administration’s Emergency Relief program, which pays for repairs to roads damaged by natural disasters. The Senate version had originally appropriated $389 million.

The provision would offset the emergency road funding with a rescission of states’ highway contract authority, drawing a strong objection from Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James L. Oberstar of Minnesota.

Oberstar wrote House appropriators late Monday urging them not to include the provision in the conference report.

“The rescission of contract authority is the exclusive jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,” Oberstar wrote.

There is no need to offset the highway funds because they are designated as emergency money, Oberstar wrote.

A Senate appropriations aide said the rescission was needed to keep the bill’s bottom line in check.