Rep. Blumenauer to Advocate for Higher Gas Tax
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), a member of the influential House Budget Committee, has been calling for increasing the federal gas tax to fund large-scale transportation infrastructure projects for several years.
At a July 11 event at the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, Blumenauer said he plans to call on colleagues to support his bill that would raise the tax from 18.4 cents per gallon to 33.3 cents per gallon by 2016, then indexing they levy to inflation.
“I don’t like raising the gas tax, either. But the reality is that it’s necessary,” Blumenauer said.
His bill lacks broad support in the House and it is not supported by the White House.
The Center for American Progress event begins at 10 a.m. EDT, and the Oregon Democrat will be part of a panel of experts who have been pressing lawmakers to approve long-term funding for major highway projects.
Last month, Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) proposed increasing the gas and diesel taxes by 6 cents each year for the next two years, for a total increase of 12 cents that would be indexed to inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index.
Both Blumenauer and the senators say raising the fuels tax would shore up the cash-strapped Highway Trust Fund, which the Department of Transportation estimates will run out of money in August. The trust fund reimburses states for construction projects.
