Sen. James Inhofe: ‘Not Going To Be a User Fee’ to Fund Highway Bill
WASHINGTON — Congressional Republican leaders will not consider raising taxes on gas and diesel fuels as a way to back transportation programs in a short-term measure and in a multiyear bill, the chairman of the Senate transportation policy panel told Transport Topics on May 5.
“There’s not going to be a user fee,” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works panel. “It’s not on the table because the president said he’d veto anything with a user fee increase, and the House said they won’t take up a bill if it has it. So between those two things, let’s not waste our time on something that isn’t going to happen.”
Inhofe’s comments aligned with remarks House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) made last week at an event hosted by The Christian Science Monitor.
Earlier this year, Inhofe had indicated there was a possibility for Congress to consider a user fee increase. After an EPW hearing in January, Inhofe stressed that to pay for a long-term highway bill, Congress would need to adopt various funding mechanisms, such as public-private partnerships and raise certain highway user fees.
“I don’t call it a tax increase. In fact, I’m not going to do that. It’s a user fee increase,” Inhofe told reporters after the January hearing. “Ironically, those who are the stakeholders, those who are using it, they’re always advocating a larger user fee on themselves. And so we need to look at that, which I’ve always done, and see if that should be part of it.”
Noting the time crunch to advance a short-term highway funding fix ahead of a May 31 funding authority deadline, Inhofe said he’d like his GOP colleagues to unveil their plan “the sooner the better.” Trucking industry leaders and other key transportation groups support an increase in gas and diesel fuel taxes.
