WASHINGTON Political observers say prospects for passing a long-term highway bill continue to grow dimmer as other issues dominate the Senate and House legislative agendas.

Not only are other priorities getting in the way, say government affairs specialists, but new deficit and debt projections make getting long-term highway authorization, and the funding sources for it, more of an uphill battle.

Before leaving for the August recess, the House and Senate agreed on a roughly $7 billion patch for the ailing Highway Trust Fund, but the two bodies still differ on how to approach a long-term transportation bill.

The Senate, supported by the Obama administration, favors an 18-month extension of the current highway bill to take effect when the bill expires Sept. 30.

The House, however, led by Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is continuing to work on a long-term, six-year authorization bill and opposes a significant delay.

Despite Oberstars pushing, though, it appears unlikely a long-term bill will be enacted this year.

One transportation lobbyist was quoted as saying "the reality that nobody is talking about" is that "nobody wants to tell Chairman Oberstar that hes not going to get a bill."

"In every meeting you have [Hill staff] tell you: Were not getting a bill now and, in fact, its somewhat unlikely that were going to get a bill next year, but no one wants to tell Mr. Oberstar that," the lobbyist anoted.

The highway bill is not the only piece of legislation being pushed back. Senate Democrats reportedly are delaying introduction of sweeping cap-and-trade climate change legislation.

Meanwhile, the Center for Public Integrity reports that special interest groups have spent $45 million lobbying federal lawmakers during the first eight months of this year on issues relating to the highway authorization bill.

The center published its latest report last month, saying the money spent lobbying for transportation has rivaled that of climate change.

The report clearly highlights what the motorcoach industry is up against in battling issues related to the legislation and how, in Washington, it is very easy to get lost in the crowd because the crowd is much larger than most people realize.

The message to the coach industry is to stay involved because there are hundreds of groups pushing to move money around or to change regulations at every turn.

This year has already been a big one for transportation, with House lawmakers rolling out the prototype of what the next five-or six-year highway authorization bill could look like. For starters, House members believe the highway bill could cost $450 billion to $500 billion to fund.

That compares to the 2005 highway bill, known as SAFETEA-LU, that cost $286 billion to fund.

The highway bill is the mother of all transportation bills because it covers not only highway funding matters for the next several years, but will also affect for good or bad highway safety, public transportation funding, and bus industry regulations.

The Center for Public Integrity reported that 475 U.S. cities and 160 counties in 44 states have sought funds for specific projects in the past eight months.