U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond, R-MO, wants to pass a transportation bill by the end of March, but he recently admitted it’s a slippery task.

"Getting people to vote for a transportation bill is like loading frogs into a wheelbarrow. When they started talking about a fuel tax (in an election year), they turned around and all the frogs had hopped out," Bond said, as reported by the Quincy Herald Whig.

Meanwhile, Bond told a crowd in Hannibal, MO, earlier this week, “We’ve got to have good roads for economic development. I don't want to see Congress put this off. We need to get this done."

The Senate earlier this month approved the SAFETEA transportation bill, which would spend at least $255 million on highways over six years and at least $56 billion on mass transit.

The $318 billion bill was sent to the House, where lawmakers have approved a four-month-long extension that would give them until the end of June to pass a transportation bill. House members have proposed a $375 billion highway bill of their own, but that would require a fuel tax increase that Bond said could be a deal-breaker.