No Link: Republicans making concessions on transportation spending and elsewhere Associated Press 6/06 (June 06, 2012, House

GOP mixes some increases with spending cuts,

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/06/house-gop-mixes-some-increases-with-spending-cuts/)

But even as the GOP spending bills often cut well below current spending and far below Obama's requests, Republicans drafting the measures are displaying a more pragmatic side on some programs. For instance, the Amtrak passenger railroad, long a target of senior Republicans, would actually get a budget boost under a just-released transportation bill. Community development block grants popular with local officials back in lawmakers' districts would get a $400 million, 14 percent increase over current levels. And Republicans are largely sparing housing vouchers for the poor and food aid for pregnant women from cuts as they pass agency operating budgets for the fiscal year that starts in October.

Non Unique: $120 billion transportation bill already approved EDITORIAL 7/01 (July 01, 2012, At Last, a Transportation Bill, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/opinion/at-last-atransportation-bill.html?_r=0)

Thanks to the stubbornness of the Senates political odd couple the liberal Barbara Boxer of California and the conservative James Inhofe of Oklahoma Congress approved on Friday afternoon a serviceable transportation bill. And in the nick of time, too. The current program was due to expire Saturday night, potentially disrupting highway and mass transit projects at the height of the construction season and jeopardizing 2.9 million jobs. Though the final bill is far from perfect, it more nearly resembles the solid Senate measure crafted by Ms. Boxer and Mr. Inhofe, the chairwoman and ranking member of the Senate public works committee, than the appalling House version. It will sustain current financing for 27 months, at a cost of $120 billion, along the lines of the Senate bill.

Obama winning across several polls

President Obama has stretched his lead over Mitt Romney to 6 percentage points nationally, according to the Gallup daily tracking poll released Wednesday. Obama takes 50 percent support over Romney's 44 percent.The president has hit the 50 percent mark only twice before in the poll, most recently after the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., earlier this month. Obama's approval rating has also jumped in recent weeks, and sits at 51 positive and 43 negative, according to Gallup. Obama now leads the Real Clear Politics (RCP) average of polls by 4 percent. Romney led the Gallup daily tracking poll on Aug. 27, 47 to 46 percent over Obama, but thats the last time any major poll has shown him in the lead. A string of polls in September has shown Obama pulling away, in some cases by as many as 8 percentage points, and the daily tracking polls have scarcely fluctuated over that time.