WASHINGTON The Obama administration stunned almost everyone in Washington last month when it sought an 18-month delay in congressional consideration of the primary highway and public transportation funding bill scheduled to be debated this summer and fall.

One reason everyone was surprised by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHoods call for postponing action on the massive highway bill was because it came on the same day the Democratic partys top House member on transportation issues, Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, released a comprehensive blueprint of the six-year highway and public transit funding and legislative package.

Oberstar and his colleagues on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee have spent much of the past three years working on their bill, which proposes fundamental changes in policy, in addition to spending $500 billion, a 53 percent increase over federal transportation spending in the previous six years.

The White House announcement clearly blindsided Oberstar and his colleagues on both sides of the aisle and undercut their bid to pass the landmark legislation.

To say Oberstar was outraged is putting it mildly, and he and his transportation buddies said the nation couldnt wait 18 additional months to address pressing needs. They served notice they intend to push ahead regardless of the Obama effort to slow the House train.

The administration did find support in the Senate in the person of Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

She contends there are too many irons in the legislative fire to allow for reasoned consideration of fundamental changes in transportation policy right now.

How this will shake out in the weeks ahead is anybodys guess, but the jousting among Democrats in the House, the White House and the Senate should make for interesting political spectacle.

Meanwhile, the only thing left on the table is Oberstars blueprint for spending half a trillion dollars on highway, bridge, rail and green projects.

One of the elements missing from the plan, however, is how Oberstar and his colleagues propose paying for it.

The cornucopia of goodies in the Oberstar plan has gotten strong reviews from interest groups, mainly because it gives them nearly everything they've been asking for: Environmentalists get a new bureaucracy to encourage green projects, public transit agencies get a big influx of cash, high-speed rail enthusiasts get new trains, and states get billions in additional money to build and improve roads, bridges and highways.