A political battle is just beginning to brew over the fate of one of Alaska Rep. Don Young's favorite pet projects, a hard-won pot of millions of dollars a year in mass-transit funding for the mostly rural Alaska Railroad.

Democrats on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee want to see at least some of the money redirected to where it was intended: heavily traveled mass-transit lines in high-density cities. But as they try to build momentum for a highway bill that the White House and Senate hope to put off for at least 12 to 18 months, they aren't yet picking a fight with Young, a Republican with considerable clout.

Last year alone, the carve-out -- part of a Young-written "technical amendment" to the 2005 highway law -- was worth nearly $19 million, placing the Alaska Railroad well ahead of major cities such as Houston, Orlando, Kansas City and Cincinnati, Indianapolis and New Orleans.

Rep. Lee Terry confirmed Notepad's report that he dropped an F-bomb on a Capitol Hill driver last week in an interview with his local paper, the Omaha World-Herald.

But Terry says he was cursed first -- and that he wasn't jaywalking, as we reported. We stand by our account, but can't swear that the driver didn't swear at any point.

Here's the key exchange from our previous post:

The 30 Democrats who voted against the rule governing debate on the climate change bill (HR 2454) represent a new high for disloyalty on a rule this year, perhaps a troubling sign for Democratic leaders who rely on unity on such procedural votes to maintain control of the floor.

The past high was 27 "no" votes, a level reached twice in the past 10 days -- on the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill (HR 2847) and the defense authorization bill (HR 2647).

Before that, it was 26 votes on the rule for a mortgage loan modification bill in late February. That rule vote was a signal to House Democratic leaders that they weren't going to get the necessary support to pass the mortgage bill. They pulled it from the floor and made some changes to win the votes they needed the following week.

Whether the climate bill passes or not, the increasing boldness of the Democratic rank-and-file can't be a welcome sign for Democratic leaders.

The invective that CQ reporter Richard Rubin overheard at 1st and C streets Southeast from Republican Rep. Lee Terry this morning is hardly the kind of language you'd expect to hear in Omaha on a Sunday morning.

But Terry was crossing a Washington street during a workweek when a local driver called him out for jaywalking.

"Can't you read the sign?" the driver shouted.

"[Expletive] you!" Terry retorted.