RICHMOND -- The General Assembly's special session on transportation appeared headed toward gridlock Thursday as a House of Delegates committee ditched Gov. Tim Kaine's funding plan and advanced a Senate-sponsored tax increase that has little chance of reaching the governor's desk.

On the fourth day of a session that has been marked by partisan tension and political maneuvering, the House Rules Committee voted 11-4 to defeat a bill that Kaine had promoted around the state as a fix for the state's transportation funding problems and acute needs in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

But the Republican-run panel gave different treatment to a Senate-sponsored bill that would increase the state's gasoline tax and other levies to boost transportation funding. The committee sent Senate Bill 6009 to the full House without a recommendation, even though House leaders in both parties have declared their opposition to a gas tax increase. The House will act on the bill after the special session resumes July 9.

House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County, the sponsor of Kaine's bill, called the committee's action "the height of foolishness."

"Clearly, it's a disappointment to me that they chose to kill the governor's bill," Armstrong said. "I also find it disingenuous and inconsistent that they would report all these other bills out without recommendation and won't report the governor's bill."

Kaine, a Democrat, said the committee killed the bill "because it has my name on it and has Ward Armstrong's name on it."

"And, frankly, I also think it's because they're afraid it'll pass," the governor said.

Kaine challenged House Republicans to "allow a significant floor debate" on transportation bills when the special session resumes.

"If they just try to force everything to votes right away, I think that will be an indication that they're not that interested in solving the problem; they're just interested in pushing the politics side of it," Kaine said.

Kaine's bill (House Bill 6026) would have increased the sales tax on vehicles and vehicle registration fees to help cover the rising costs of road maintenance. The state will divert $388 million from its $1.6 billion road construction budget in the upcoming fiscal year to cover a shortfall in its maintenance budget.

It also would have increased the grantor's tax on home sales to fund mass transit and other transportation programs, and included regional tax increases for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Kaine's proposal was introduced only in the House. Though Democrats control the Senate, some party leaders want more statewide revenue than Kaine's plan would produce.

Republican lawmakers have questioned why Kaine would call a special session when he had only shaky support for his plan. They also have criticized Kaine for saying little about the maintenance funding problem until a February Virginia Supreme Court ruling invalidated regional taxing authorities created for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

"This has just been a political exercise for the governor," said House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem.

Griffith and other Republicans on the Rules Committee voted to advance the Senate's bill, even though they plan to vote against it on the House floor. The committee used a similar maneuver earlier this year to force floor votes on certain bills.

"We saw the Saslaw bill as the Democratic-preferred bill," Griffith said. "The governor didn't put his bill in the Senate and they did not push anything like the governor's plan."

But Armstrong, who opposed a gas tax increase, said Republicans "want to embarrass us [Democrats] by having us vote on a gas tax."

The Senate bill would increase the state's 17.5-cents-per-gallon gas tax by a penny a year over six years. It also would increase the retail sales tax by 0.25 percentage points and the vehicle sales tax by 0.5 percentage points, and reduce the sales tax on groceries by 0.5 percent. It calls for additional regional tax increases in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, said his bill ultimately would generate $573 million in new money for road maintenance. And he argued that the gas tax increase would have little impact on prices at the pump based on prices in neighboring states with higher gas tax rates.

GOP committee members pressed Saslaw and Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer on whether Kaine would sign a gas tax increase. When asked about the possibility Thursday, Kaine said only: "I'm not going to veto any bill that gets to my desk that fixes the state maintenance deficit and provides regional relief to Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads."

The House also advanced a bill (House Bill 6055) that would target needs only in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Kaine said regional-only bills would not solve the problem that he summoned lawmakers to fix.

"A lot of places in this state other than Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads have needs," Kaine said.