Last week we explained the details surrounding the expiration of the transportation bill on Wednesday night and the one-month extension that was passed. Due in part to the failure of a bipartisan plan to shift some revenue to satisfy House budget rules, the states are also losing a total of $8.7 billion in transportation spending, known by the unmistakably Washington-transportation-insider term of a “rescission.” Here’s our attempt to simplify that issue just a little bit for those who are interested in the policy details. Non-wonks, feel free to skip over this one. Just a fair warning! Click through the jump to read in its entirety.

As you may have read on Streetsblog Capitol Hill, the Senate passed a stopgap one-month extension of the current law last night. There have been a lot of questions flying around today, so we’re going to try to post a handful with some simplified answers when possible to clear up any confusion. The short explanation? The Senate failed to pass an extension of their own to match the House’s 3-month extension before the transportation bill expired last night. Instead, they passed an emergency one-month extension.