Last summer, members of Congress decided they needed more time to find a long-term solution to the ailing highway trust fund, so they passed an eight-month extension.

Now, in a scramble before that extension expires on May 31, the House has approved another patch—this time for only two months. While he’s not happy about the situation, President Obama has signaled that he will sign the bill, which would carry the system through July 31, the middle of the construction season.

While there was discussion of a longer extension which would fund the transportation system through the end of 2015, Congress’ inability to agree upon the needed $11 billion in funding killed that idea. Also, a longer patch would have dropped the deadline into the middle of the presidential debate season, a dilemma which highlights the Scylla and Charybdis of Washington politics.

This Congress couldn’t even agree on revenue sources for the $11 billion needed for a seven-month patch, so it’s hard to imagine a long-term bill — which would need $80 to $100 billion in yet-to-be-identified funding — will materialize in the next two months.

Even worse, as the nation is mulling the reality that an underfunded system played a role in the Philadelphia Amtrak derailment, slash and burn ideas continue to be presented. This week, the conservative Cato Institute published their long term solution: cut our way out of this deadlock by slicing $13 billion from the bottom line. Others have suggested that we jettison funding for walking, biking and transit, as if those modes were not part of the transportation system.