Dive Brief:

• The good news for transportation construction is that President Obama and House Ways & Means Committee Chairman David Camp each had proposals for transportation spending plans.
• The bad news is that one is a plan from a Democratic president, the other is a plan from a Republican House leader -- and this is Washington in 2014.
• Obama outlined a plan that would put $302 billion into surface transportation work over four years, while Camp offered a plan to pump $126.5 billion into the Highway Transportation Fund, which has nearly breathed its last over eight years.

Dive Insight:

Obama's proposal covers many areas of transportation, but the trust fund would get a one-time booster shot of $150 billion that the president would draw from revenue from corporate tax changes. Camp has a reform plan for the entire tax code, and his trust fund help would also come from corporate tax changes. Transportation and construction executives said they were great starts on saving the trust fund, but a proposal is not legislation needed by September.