By Kathryn A. Wolfe, CQ Staff

House Republican leaders are going back to the drawing board to find new ways to pay for their five-year, $260 billion highway bill, after announcing Wednesday they were abandoning plans to vote on the package before Presidents Day.

The postponement was prompted, in part, by a decision to spend one of the offsets — a requirement that federal employees pay a greater share of their pension contributions — on the payroll tax cut extension instead. Many had been counting on that offset to help pay for the bill (HR 7).

But the delay was also a recognition that GOP leaders have more work to do in persuading reluctant members of their caucus to support the package, which would link a reauthorization of surface transportation programs to an expansion of oil and gas drilling in the arctic and off U.S. shores (HR 3408) and approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

“Look, I know some of you still have concerns about this plan,” House Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, told the Republican Conference on Wednesday. “That’s why I want you to have a chance to offer amendments, to have a full debate on the floor.”

Boehner also urged his members to pitch the energy production provisions in the bill to constituents as an answer to rising gasoline prices.

“This debate is a debate we want to have,” the Speaker said. “ABC News reported last night that we will soon see $4-a-gallon gas prices. Maybe higher. Certainly, this summer will see the highest gas prices in years. Your constituents saw that report, and they’ll be talking about it. When they do, tell them about this bill that we’re working on.”

Republican leaders first will need to revise their plan to pay for the bill. With gasoline and diesel tax revenue lagging as Americans turn to more fuel-efficient vehicles, Highway Trust Fund revenue is projected to fall far short of the amounts needed to fund authorized spending. Leadership had cobbled together a package of other offsets to help bridge the gap, including a requirement that federal workers contribute more to their pensions (HR 3813).

At least some of that money will instead be spent on the expected agreement for payroll tax legislation (HR 3630), which means that the GOP will have to come up with money from somewhere else to cover the transportation bill’s price tag.

Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner, said that the transportation bill’s pension offset “overlaps to some extent with one of the offsets in the payroll tax agreement, so we’ll need to make an adjustment to meet our commitment to ensuring that the energy/infrastructure bill is fully paid for. We’re looking at the best way to do that.”

The specific offsets that may be on the table are unclear, but it is likely that the House will consider some of the ideas that the Senate Finance committee employed to help pay for the chamber’s two-year, $109 billion surface transportation bill. One possibility is the transfer of money from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund to the Highway Trust Fund, which Senate tax-writers are counting on to produce $3 billion for the highway bill.

United Democratic Opposition

Boehner’s efforts to rally his caucus are critical because he can count on no support from Democrats.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., said “not one” Democrat is planning to vote for the GOP bill, which he dismissed as “not a legitimate policy document.”