Right-wing budget hawks in Congress could hold the planned Green Line extension hostage. That’s the terrifying vision state transportation secretary Jeff Mullan raised yesterday. Amid a day filled with talk of weather-driven delays and tchotchke sales, Mullan pronounced himself “nervous” that budget–slashing Congressional Republicans might try to scuttle the federal funding the MBTA needs to extend the rapid-transit line from Lechmere to Somerville.

Given those concerns, the T’s board chose to allocate just $21 million of a $95 million request to advance the planning of the $1 billion construction project. But behind the scenes, local transportation advocates are warning that there’s another, more pressing impediment to getting the feds to help pay for the Green Line project: the T’s own budget.

MBTA and MassDOT officials are grappling with a $126 million budget deficit this year. And the red ink will only get worse. A 2009 report by former John Hancock executive David D’Alessandro labeled the T’s financial future as “bleak.”

The D’Alessandro report pegged the T’s operating deficit at $329 million next year, and $550 million two years from now. The report also painted a grim picture of the T’s ability to maintain the system it currently has. In the 2010 fiscal year, for instance, the T was only able to fund 6 percent of $3 billion in “state of good repair” requests, leaving the agency drowning in deferred maintenance.

There’s a direct link between the T’s inability to pay for the services it performs and its ability to secure federal funds for new services. Federal officials apply a financial feasibility test to funding applications: If you want federal funds for new projects, you have to show the ability to pay for those projects’ operations. The T can’t even pay to run what it has already. Federal officials took a hard look at the financials underpinning the proposed Silver Line Phase III, and Beacon Hill observers believe that if the feds had a funding request for the Green Line extension before them today, the T would fail the financial feasibility test.

Transportation advocates liken the T’s wish list – the legally-mandated Green Line extension, a Blue Line extension to Lynn, commuter rail service to the South Coast, Silver Line Phase III, and rapid bus service from Dudley Square to Mattapan – to an airport buzzing with airplanes with no runway to land on. The stakes are especially high for the Green Line extension, which the state initially committed to as environmental mitigation for the Big Dig. A 2007 legal settlement with the Conservation Law Foundation reaffirmed that commitment. Under the terms of that settlement, the T agreed to begin Green Line service to Somerville by 2014. The T’s current timeline envisions service near end of 2015, assuming it secures that $1 billion in funding.

                                                                                                                                                        –PAUL MCMORROW

STATE HOUSE

Talk about going wobbly. Former AP reporter Glen Johnson, now back at the Globe, where he toiled previously, has this provocative post taking stock of House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s tumble on an icy sidewalk yesterday that resulted in a broken ankle. A bad time for the beleaguered leader to be laid up, says Johnson. “The question is whether the speaker’s slip could trigger his fall.”

The Globe editorial page gets behind Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposal to bring public defender services in-house, while an editorial in the Lowell Sun dismisses the bid. “Pie in the sky?” asks the Sun.

The Cape Cod Times supports the governor’s pension proposals, and warns advocates to be on the lookout for attempts to water them down in the Legislature.

Gregory Bialecki, the state’s secretary of housing and economic development, is headed to Hollywood to drum up more customers for the state’s film tax credit. Accompanying him are John Dukakis and an advisory panel, WBUR reports.

The Patrick administration plans to stop paying hospitals with high rates of readmissions by low-income patients, WBUR reports.

Tom Keane says Patrick is finding his groove. Finally.

Stephen Cole, the Republican retiree who barely campaigned against sate Sen. Steve Baddour, dropped out of the race before Election Day, and still won 41 percent of the vote, spent just $597 on his campaign efforts, compared to $164,000 for Baddour, according to new campaign finance disclosures. Cole spent less than three cents per vote, compared to Baddour’s $4.76.

CENSUS

More people in Massachusetts listed themselves as part of a same-sex couple on the 2010 Census than a decade earlier, the Globe reports, but it’s unclear whether this just reflects an increase in reporting or an actual increase in same-sex couples in the state.

MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS

A federal judge denied former Boston city councilor Chuck Turner‘s bid to halt next week’s preliminary election, which will narrow the field to two in the race to succeed the Roxbury pol, who was ousted by his colleagues after his conviction on bribery charges. But Chief US District Judge Mark Wolf still plans to rule on Turner’s claim that the council overstepped its authority in booting him from office.

Lawrence Police Chief John Romero again gives his scheduled pay raise back to the city, the Eagle-Tribune reports.

The Eagle-Tribune, in an editorial, lambasts Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua for issuing gag orders and ignoring public records requests.

The superintendent of the Green Bay Area Public Schools is coming to Marblehead to run its much smaller school system, the Salem News reports.

COURTS

A state audit finds that Barnstable and Orleans district court officials need to improve their accounting procedures.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Four top executives of Danversbank will share $18 million when the firm merges with People’s United Bank of Connecticut, the Salem News reports.

Taylor Amerding, in an opinion piece appearing in the Salem News, is critical of Beacon Hill lawmakers for showering businesses struggling to survive with regulations and mandates.

A dispute over simulcasting revenues and work days is endangering what’s left of Suffolk Downs.

The nation’s biggest law firms are giving increasingly outsized salaries to their star partners, exacerbating compensation gaps in an industry still recovering from the global economic downturn.

For whom the bell tolls? Evergreen Solar’s profits head into “negative territory,” the Worcester Business Journal reports.

TRANSPORTATION

The Lynn Item reports that the North Shore’s commuter rail line is ranked last in on-time performance, a situation that has only worsened with the recent spate of bad weather.

The Patriot Ledger asked some riders what they would put on T-shirts, coffee mugs and other merchandise MBTA General Manager Rich Davey says the agency will sell as a way to raise revenue. It’s doubtful Davey will choose any of these suggestions for the marketing campaign.

With a little bit of thaw over the weekend, another vexing problem of winter began sprouting: potholes. Crews in New Bedford alone patched 612 potholes on the city’s streets between Friday and Monday and surrounding towns are starting to deal with the annual craters as well, the Standard Times reports.

HEALTH CARE

Paul Levy takes reporters to task for accepting statements at face value from health insurers about the success of their own reform initiatives.

WASHINGTON

The Democratic Leadership Council, the centrist organization whose ideas came to define the Clinton presidency, is closing its doors. Marc Ambinder, on National Journal’s website, breaks down the reasons for the shuttering and the impact the group has had.

US Rep. Stephen Lynch, on Jim Braude’s Broadside, offers his views on Egypt.

US Rep. Peter King thinks Muslims hate America, and plans on using his perch atop the House Homeland Security Committee to make his case.

President Barack Obama found a cold, cold room when he addressed the US Chamber of Commerce.

ELECTION 2012

The Springfield Republican looks at what Tea Party gains mean for New Hampshire‘s Republican ranks and potential presidential contenders.

STATE OF THE STATES

Governors are looking to save money by reducing prison populations while beefing up parole and probation, the Wall Street Journal reports.

CONSERVATIVE CHASM

American Conservative editor Daniel McCarthy says those bailing out of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference because of the presence of the gay group GOProud are being disingenuous. He notes no one had a problem with the CPAC inclusion of the ACLU.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Horses of a different color: Why Philadelphia is bringing back its mounted police unit.

CHARITY

The top 50 philanthropists in the country donated $3.3 billion last year, the lowest total since the Chronicle of Philanthropy started tracking the numbers in 2000. Massachusetts boasted a pair of husband and wife donors in the top 50, Peter and Carolyn Lynch and Patrick and Barbara Roche, each of whom gave $20 million to Boston College to tie for 49^th on the list.

HOUSING

US Rep. Barney Frank and former US senator Chris Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat, get kudos from the Springfield Republican for their work on a new mortgage aid program.

HITS TO THE HEAD

Football may be getting all the focus when it comes to concussions but “Greater Boston” takes a look at hockey in the wake of the announcement that Bruins center Marc Savard, whose future on ice is in doubt, is sidelined for the rest of the year after suffering his second major concussion in less than a year. It’s especially resonant in this youth hockey-crazed region.

NATIONAL ANTHEM FALLOUT

Can you say bicentennial? Why Christina Aguilera picked a bad year to botch the “The Star Spangled Banner,” plus other explanations for her difficulties with the anthem at the Super Bowl.

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