House Republicans' planned multiyear surface-transportation oil-and-gas drilling measure won't be ready this year. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the bill would hike domestic oil and gas production "and use those [energy] revenues to repair and improve … roads and bridges."

On Dec. 17, Boehner said he was hopeful the not-yet-introduced measure would clear the House by the end of December. But Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) said on Nov. 30 the bill won't move until early 2012.

Lawmakers' deadline is March 31, when a highway-transit stopgap expires. It is the eighth extension since Sept. 30, 2009, when the last long-term statute lapsed.