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ARLINGTON, Va. — Congressional leaders from both parties last week defended Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood after a spokesman for President Obama rebuffed LaHood’s suggestion that the government might use a vehicle miles-traveled tax to finance highways.

Truck engine makers planning to use selective catalytic reduction in 2010 engines lashed out last week against what one executive called “unsubstantiated attacks leveled against SCR” by the one manufacturer that plans to use only exhaust gas recirculation to cut emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides.

In response to a proposal to more than double annual registration fees on interstate trucking companies, American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said the program created to collect and distribute the fees should be abolished.

Manufacturing activity in the Chicago region contracted in February for a fifth straight month, the Institute for Supply Chain Management-Chicago said Friday.

������ýland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told lawmakers Wednesday that her agency won’t be able to screen all port cargo for radiological and nuclear threats by 2012, the Associated Press reported.

American Trucking Associations said Thursday it was unveiling a new trailer for use in its image and outreach programs.

Truckload carrier P.A.M. Transportation Services reported a fourth-quarter loss of $11.4 million, or $1.19 per share, compared with a loss of $840,000, or 8 cents, a year ago.

The White House backed off a suggestion by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that the Obama administration would consider a vehicle mileage tax in lieu of the federal gasoline tax, the Washington Post reported.

The Environmental Protection Agency has rejected Navistar Inc.’s request to allow manufacturers sell engines compliant with either the agency’s 2007 or 2010 emission standards until 2012.