By Matthew G. Feher

On May 17, the U.S. Senate rebuffed the president by voting 89-11 to pass a six-year, $295 billion federal transportation reauthorization bill, a funding level that the president has threatened to veto.

The Senate plan, known as the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA), would provide Massachusetts with a 28 percent funding increase over the previous six-year federal transportation authorization.

The $284 billion House version, called the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU), is at the highest funding level the president has indicated he will support.

The House and Senate plans now head for a conference committee, where differences will be ironed out.

The extension of the most recent federal transportation authorization is set to expire May 31, so either the conference committee compromise must be voted on by that time or another extension must be granted.

Sen. Max Baucus of Montana and Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa were the lead sponsors of the amendment adopted on the Senate floor that increased the funding level from $284 billion to $295 billion. The amendment also raised the minimum rate of return to the states from 90.5 percent to 91 percent beginning in federal fiscal 2006 and to 92 percent in fiscal 2009.

Under the Senate plan, Massachusetts would receive a 95 percent rate of return by fiscal 2009 that would maximize its share of federal dollars, as opposed to the proposed minimum of 92 percent.

The House plan did not increase the current rate of 90.5 percent.

The reauthorization plan will be the third iteration of the transportation blueprint created by Congress more than a decade ago with the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), which was renewed in 1998 with the passage of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21).

These multi-year federal authorizations provide Massachusetts cities and towns with a substantial funding stream for highway and transit projects. Any new reauthorization plan is expected to call upon local governments to take an active role in the planning and programming of transportation funding.