Two senators at odds on climate legislation are joining forces to push for a short-term extension of the highway bill.

"One of the best ways to spur job creation and economic recovery is through infrastructure investment," Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the chairwoman and ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, respectively, wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky.

"That is why a longer-term extension of the surface transportation program is so important to maintaining our nation's vital bridges, roads, public transportation and other related infrastructure, restoring our economy and creating good jobs for American workers."

Five senators joined Inhofe and Boxer in signing the letter: Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas).

WASHINGTON - Just before another short-term extension on highway programs moved forward, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe pulled the plug Thursday on his own efforts to pass a longer-term extension and protect Oklahoma and other states from more losses in road money.

All week the Oklahoma Republican had worked with fellow lawmakers in both the House and the Senate on a deal for a six-month extension, but another continuing resolution passed to take the current transportation law until Dec. 18.

"This is terrible for Oklahomans, and it is being repeated across the nation,'' Inhofe said.

He said the short-term extension, the second passed so far, will fund highway programs at levels 33 percent lower than what states had been receiving.

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe stands out like a heretic in a world in which political correctness has become its own religion. One of the chief tenets of this new faith is that manmade global warming will be the ruination of us all. Inhofe is on a one man crusade to debunk the idea.

It doesn't matter that the "global warming" vocabulary is subtly being switched to "climate change," and for a very good reason. There is some question about how much, if any, the earth is still warming despite ever increasing carbon emissions.

No matter how many times Congress debates it, and no matter how environmentalists couch it, cap-and-trade will do virtually nothing to stop global warming, and cap-and-trade, as Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) said, "is a tax, and a great big one." These are the fundamentals in the cap-and-trade debate, and Republicans must refocus on them.

We need to remind the American public, for example, that the 1,400-page Waxman-Markey monstrosity is a monument to big government that will make food, gasoline and electricity more expensive, increase mandates on small businesses, and increase the size and reach of the federal bureaucracy - all while doing nothing to affect climate change.

Thousands showed up Tuesday night to public hearings held by the Army Corps of Engineers in Pikeville, Kentucky; Charleston, West Virginia; and Knoxville, Tennessee to demonstrate their support for their jobs and energy security. Last night kicked off a series of six Corps hearings on the proposed suspension of the Nationwide Permit 21 (NWP 21) in the six state Appalachian region. Tomorrow, Thursday, October 15, the Corps will hold the remaining three hearings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Cambridge, Ohio; and Big Stone Gap, Virginia. The NWP 21 permit allows for environmentally responsible coal production while minimizing unnecessary bureaucratic delays. Maintaining the NWP 21 is essential to keeping thousands of high-paying jobs in the Appalachian region.

LANSING, Mich. -- If the future of American manufacturing lies in green industries, the Michigan governor's pursuit of jobs offers a cautionary tale.

Four years ago, Jennifer M. Granholm set out to remake her state, which took an exceptional walloping with the decline of the auto industry, as a pioneer in creating environmentally friendly jobs. Today, however, jobs are still disappearing much faster than she can create them, raising questions about how long it will take Michigan and other hard-hit states to find new industries to employ their workers.

Since taking office in 2003, Granholm has created 163,300 positions, her office says. She expects that a recent infusion of more than $1 billion from the Obama administration aimed at nurturing car battery and electric-vehicle projects will generate 40,000 more positions by 2020.

In the past decade, however, as the auto industry has grown smaller, Michigan has lost 870,000 jobs -- about 632,000 of them during Granholm's tenure. The number is expected to reach 1 million by late next year, the end of her term.

What's up with those geniuses in Congress? First they scurry around to get massive stimulus funding in the pipeline in an effort to quickly jump-start the economy, and then they fiddle around and let regular transportation funding that would further aid the recovery lapse.

Not a good recipe for ensuring that the recovery will continue.

Oklahoma transportation leaders learned this week that two squirrelly actions by Congress will force the state to slash its November contracts from $53.5 million to only $6.2 million.

A total of 18 state projects, including three in the Tulsa area, will be delayed by the actions that left the Oklahoma Department of Transportation with no federal funds to expend next month.

The congressional actions - or should we call them inactions - are difficult for the average citizen to understand, but the failure of our national leaders to address this situation is incomprehensible.

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla, tried valiantly this past week to have at least some of the funding restored but unfortunately was unsuccessful. "Now we are going to pay the price,'' said Inhofe.

If action isn't taken fairly soon to restore the funding, the impact on Oklahoma could eventually reach $135 million.

ODOT Director Gary Ridley made the salient observation that the state was urged to hurry up and spend stimulus funding to create jobs, and now we're being forced to delay phases of some of those projects that were expedited. Didn't anyone think this course of action through?

Inaction by Congress has jeopardized millions of dollars in highway funds for Oklahoma and may lead the state Transportation Department to cancel all bid awards next month, state transportation Director Gary Ridley said Thursday.

Congress failed on Wednesday, the last day of the federal fiscal year, to head off a planned $8 billion in cuts to state highway departments nationwide. Moreover, lawmakers have only given a 30-day extension to highway funding, restricting what Ridley's department can legally commit.

It's a double whammy for the state Transportation Department. The funding cut - called a rescission - means less money for road and bridge projects. And the short extension prevents the department from obligating money it isn't authorized to spend.

"It is really a problem," Ridley said.

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, a Republican, tried to resolve the problem late Wednesday, working with Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. The two came up with a plan to extend the current highway bill for three months and to use money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program - the financial industry bailout funds - to patch the funding hole.

WASHINGTON - A double-whammy from the federal government will force Oklahoma next month to slash a $53.5 million contract letting on road projects to $6.2 million, according to figures provided Thursday by state Transportation Secretary Gary Ridley.

"We are not doing too good right now,'' Ridley said in something of an understatement.

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., who unsuccessfully worked into Wednesday night to prevent or at least buffer the double dose of bad news for road projects, said the impact will be devastating for construction workers in Oklahoma.

"Now we are going to pay the price,'' said Inhofe.

Projects not expected to be on the state's November list include three in the Tulsa area:

$1.8 million for a system of traffic sensors to provide real-time traffic information on message boards for the Interstate 44 widening project between Riverside Drive to Yale Avenue.