Trump promise of gas tax relief hits roadblock in Congress: ‘End this damn war’
As gas prices continue to climb, President Donald Trump’s call to suspend the gas tax landed with some skepticism on Capitol Hill.
Trump told reporters that he wanted to suspend the gas tax “’til it’s appropriate.” This comes as fuel prices have skyrocketed amid his war with Iran, which caused the regime to close off the Strait of Hormuz and, consequently, a fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced legislation to suspend the gas tax.
“I just don’t know why Republicans are suddenly for higher taxes. I thought Republicans were all about cutting taxes,” Hawley told The Independent.
On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest numbers showing that the price of gasoline increased by 5.4 percent in April and that it rose by 28.4 percent in the past 12 months.
According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of gas is $4.50, up from an average of $2.89 at the beginning of February before Trump launched a war with Iran without authorization from Congress.
“So I would hope, especially now, people are in need of relief, this would go straight to their pocketbooks,” Hawley told The Independent.
But some Republicans fear that a gas tax suspension might endanger money used to pay for roads and highways. The gas tax is set to 18.4 cents a gallon and it funds the Highway Trust Fund.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he wanted to know the nature of such a holiday.
“I think there’s a difference between a permanent and a temporary suspension,” he told The Independent. “It may make sense temporarily, but we’re going to have to pay for the roads and highways, and that’s money that goes in the Highway Trust Fund. So I’d like to hear the greater context.”
Cornyn is locked in a tight runoff election against Texas’s MAGA Attorney General Ken Paxton for a runoff election later this month to determine who will face Democratic nominee James Talarico.
But Talarico came out in support of a gas tax holiday.
“I applaud President Trump’s support for a federal gas tax suspension,” Talarico said in a statement. “Lowering prices at the pump should be a bipartisan commitment. I urge Senator Cornyn to drop his opposition to suspending the gas tax. He should join President Trump and me in supporting this critical tax relief for Texans.”
And Graham Platner, the oyster farmer who is the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, announced his support for a plan to eliminate the gas and diesel tax.
