Trump’s gas tax holiday proposal has uphill climb in Congress

President Trump’s idea to pause the federal gas tax as the Iran war drives up fuel prices faces an uphill climb in Congress.

While rank-and-file GOP lawmakers are eager to get Trump’s backing on any plan to address cost-of-living concerns in a midterm election year, top Republicans are hesitant to endorse the gas tax idea.

Trump’s proposal for a federal gas tax holiday got some initial enthusiasm Monday, with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) quickly saying they would introduce legislation to suspend the 18.4-cent-per-gallon federal tax.

But Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) was cool to the proposal, pointing out that it supports the Highway Trust Fund, which finances the Interstate Highway System and other surface transportation systems. 

“The best way to get gas prices to normalize in my view is to get the strait open,” Thune said Monday, referring to the Strait of Hormuz. “We do have a Highway Trust Fund and it does perform an important service in making sure that we’ve got highways and roadways across our country that are serviceable.”

“We’ll see where our members are,” Thune added.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated in 2022 that a 10-month suspension of the gas tax would result in a $20 billion reduction in revenue for the Highway Trust Fund, amounting to nearly half its revenue and speeding its insolvency. Some gas tax holiday bills, including Hawley’s, would direct transfers from the Treasury’s general fund to the Highway Trust Fund to make up for the lost revenue.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was more open to the idea of a gas tax holiday, but he stopped short of endorsing it. He said members would have to “look at any unintended consequences and evaluate all that.”

“I’m not getting ready to........

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