SENATORS PROPOSE A BIPARTISAN EFFORT

TO RAISE THE GAS TAX FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1993

SENATORS CHRIS MURPHY (D-CONN) AND BOB CORKER (R-TENN)

Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn) have put forth a bipartisan proposal to increase the gas tax, for the first time in 21 years. Their proposal is to raise the gas tax by 12 cents over the next two years. This tax increase would raise $164 billion in funds that could cover the shortfall of the Highway Trust Fund - which is in dire need of funding.

Based on current spending and revenue trends, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that the Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund will encounter a shortfall before the end of the fiscal year (U.S. Department of Transportation). Next year there will be a $13 billion shortfall. By 2020 it will be $100 billion.

STATEMENTS FROM MURPHY

“For too long, Congress has shied away from taking serious action to update our country’s aging infrastructure,” said Senator Murphy. “We’re currently facing a transportation crisis that will only get worse if we don’t take bold action to fund the Highway Trust Fund. By modestly raising the federal gas tax, we can address a crippling economic liability for this country—the inability to finance long-term improvements to our crumbling national infrastructure. I know raising the gas tax isn’t an easy choice, but we’re not elected to make easy decisions – we’re elected to make the hard ones. This modest increase will pay dividends in the long run and I encourage my colleagues to get behind this bipartisan proposal (Murphy.Senate.Gov, 6-18-14)”

“We’re losing hundreds of millions of dollars in economic productivity because we’re failing to invest in our nation’s roadway and rails,” says Senator Murphy. “You’re not going to find, virtually, any member of Congress who is proposing to spend less money on infrastructure over the next 10 years (The Hill, 6-18-14).”

STATEMENTS FROM CORKER

“Growing up in Tennessee as a conservative, I learned that if something was important enough to have, it was important enough to pay for. That’s how we’ve governed in the Volunteer State, which has resulted in the second best transportation system in the country without having one penny of road debt,” said Senator Corker. “In Washington, far too often, we huff and puff about paying for proposals that are unpopular, yet throw future generations under the bus when public pressure mounts on popular proposals that have broad support. Congress should be embarrassed that it has played chicken with the Highway Trust Fund and allowed it to become one of the largest budgeting failures in the federal government. If Americans feel that having modern roads and bridges is important then Congress should have the courage to pay for it (Corker.Senate.Gov, 6-18-14).”

SUPPORT FOR MURPHY AND CORKER

Murphy has argued that the proposal has the support of labor unions and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which have campaigned together in favor of a gas tax increase.

“Our nation’s key infrastructure fund is rushing toward insolvency,” Transportation for America Director James Corless said in a statement.

The American Society of Civil Engineers also states that America's infrastructure is in peril. In the form of a Report Card, they have given American infrastructure a D+ (Infrastructure Report Card).

Corker and Murphy should definitely be praised and supported in their efforts to support bipartisan reform. There are few other realistic solutions on the table right now for saving America's Highways.

Carter Eskew, the Democratic strategist behind Al Gore's 2000 presidential race, described Corker's involvement on the Washington Post's website as "a move that truly passes for courage these days in the GOP ranks (The Tennessean, 6-21-14)."

"I think it is an act of common sense, which in our polarized environment passes for an act of political courage," said Cal Jillson, political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "Something has to be done (about highways)." (The Tennessean, 6-21-14).

Also, according to AAA, a majority of Americans would support such a proposal. Among the Americans who answered the survey, 68% believe that the federal government should be spending more on transportation, and 52% said they were willing to pay more at the pump to make this spending a reality.

MURPHY AND CORKER BIPARTISAN GAS TAX PROPOSAL

Highway Funding and Tax Reduction Proposal: U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn) (PDF)

SENATOR'S WEBSITES

Chris Murphy Home Page

Articles on Chris Murphy Site About Gas Tax

Bob Corker Home Page

Articles on Bob Corker Site About Gas Tax

SENATOR CARPER (D-DEL)

Murphy and Corker aren't the only senators who want to increase the gas tax. Senator Tom Carper, member of the Finance Committee and chairman of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, recently filed an amendment to the "Preserving American Transit and Highway's" Act (PATH Act) on June 25th that would double the amount paid by drivers to fund U.S. infrastructure improvements.

The increase is included in an amendment to a transportation funding stopgap bill that is being considered by the senate this week. Carper's proposal would increase the federal gas tax by 4 cents each year until it reaches 30 cents per gallon. The gas tax is currently indexed at 18.4 cents a gallon.

“Indexing these taxes to inflation is a common sense way to ensure the value of these transportation user fees does not continue to erode,” says Carper. “More importantly, it will allow Congress to move forward with the bipartisan long-term six-year transportation bill that was passed unanimously out of the Environment and Public Works Committee in May (The Hill, 6-26-14).”

SENATOR'S WEBSITE

Tom Carper Home Page

PRESS RELEASE

Sen. Carper Introduces Amendment to Restore Purchasing Power of the Gas Tax for Highway Trust Fund

LEGISLATION

The legislation below is not Carper's legislation, it is the legislation he is adding an amendment to.

The Preserving America's Transit and Highways Act