Lawmakers lukewarm to gas tax halt: Here's what to know

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]As inflation worries grow, President Trump's proposal to suspend the federal gas tax to bring down prices is hitting some roadblocks in Congress. Let's get to Emily Wilkins in Washington with the details. What are you hearing about it, Emily?

[00:00:12]Hey, Sarah. Yeah, a number of lawmakers who I've talked to have really given this idea a lukewarm reception. They are worried about the high price of gas, but the fact of the matter is that this 18 cents per gallon tax goes to fund things like roads, highways, bridges, and that's all stuff that lawmakers want to continue to support. You actually have seen some estimates saying that if this repeal of the federal gas tax were to go into place, it would basically cost the federal government $21 billion if it was a 6-month suspension. That's according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Senate Majority Leader John Thune talked a little bit about this to reporters yesterday. He said he's open to hearing what the president has to say about this, but he wants to make sure that consumers would ultimately benefit, that those savings would be passed down, and of course he did have some infrastructure concerns.

[00:01:03]Listen to what he had to say.

[00:01:06]We've had some of our colleagues who've come out in support of, you know, repealing or at least temporarily repealing the gas tax, but obviously that has implications for the Highway Trust Fund. And so, those are things you have to take into consideration as well.

[00:01:22]Democrats are also have concerns about this idea. We spoke with Senator Cory Booker, who said ultimately tax taxpayers would still wind up being hurt. They might save some on gas, but it would lead to worsenings of roads and bridges.

[00:01:36]It's really robbing Peter to pay Paul because remember, the gas tax comes out of our Transportation Trust Fund that has a big debt. Should be repairing our roads and bridges.

[00:01:48]In addition to that, number of Republican lawmakers, including Speaker Mike Johnson, told reporters yesterday that really if they want to get gas prices down, the way to do that is to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz. And that's really going to make the biggest impact here. And Trump really does need Congress for this. You know, I I can't say what executive orders he will and won't sign, but when it comes to the power of the person taxing, that is really Congress's purview. And a lot of members told me that if the White House wants to make this happen, they're going to have to come up here, really make the pitch, really sell lawmakers on it. Otherwise, there is a definitely not the momentum to suspend the federal gas tax at this point, guys.

[00:02:26]>> It's interesting, Emily. It's never been suspended since it was created in the '30s. You're talking a few a few billion of revenue per month. And then of course, everybody's digging up old comments that Mike Lee or John Cornyn made basically saying that to suspend it would be madness back from a few years ago.

[00:02:45]Yeah, that's the other thing, Carl. A lot of these Republicans know that just a few years they were against it. Now, some have tried to justify it saying, "Look, that was under Biden because he was trying to push green energy and EVs.

[00:02:56]This is a different situation. This is a very temporary conflict, and we would support doing it for a temporary time."

[00:03:02]At the same point, you just have a number of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who say, "Yeah, we do need to address gas prices, but really getting rid of the gas tax is not the best way to do it because of the other impacts it's going to have on federal funding.

[00:03:17]What about going state by state? I mean, there are state gas taxes as well. Can the states do some of this on their own?

[00:03:24]That's a really good question, Sarah. I mean, it'd be very interesting to see if some of the state legislatures that are still in session, most of them, you know, are now starting to gavel out for the year. Carl could be could potentially be looking at something like that. Also spoke with Senator Mike Rounds, who mentioned that if they were able to move something on, say, ethanol or E15 year-round gas, that could potentially lower costs as well. That's something the House is actually going to be voting on a little bit later today, but it's not clear at this point if that's going to pass.