CHARLESTON — U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin, Shelley Moore Capito, and Gov. Jim Justice all expressed doubt about the long-term impact of President Joe Biden’s proposed three-month federal gas tax on gas prices.
A three-month suspension of the federal gas tax, starting in July and ending in September, was announced by the White House on Wednesday. The tax is 18 cents for regular gasoline and 24 cents for diesel fuel per gallon.
Highway Trust Fund receives money from the federal gas tax. According to the White House, Biden thinks $10 billion more in federal funds can be transferred to maintain the Highway Trust Fund’s balance for the three-month break.
The Biden administration attributed the increase in gas costs to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which drove up the price of crude oil. MarketWatch reports that the price of crude oil Wednesday afternoon was approximately $106 per barrel.
The gas tax should be suspended for three months, until the end of September, according to a fact sheet from the White House. “… in this unique moment, with gas prices near $5 a gallon on average across the country, President Biden is calling on Congress to give Americans a little extra breathing room as they deal with the effects of Putin’s war in Ukraine,” the fact sheet read.
The White House cited Biden’s initiatives to lower gasoline prices, including his decision to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, encourage oil producers and refineries to raise production, and even collaborate with Saudi Arabia to do so.
According to the White House, “President Biden knows that a gas tax holiday alone will not, by itself, reduce the run-up in expenses that we’ve experienced.”
“But the President believes that Congress should do everything it can to give working people breathing room at this special time when the war in Ukraine is inflicting expenses on American households.”
Congress will need to take action to pause the federal gas tax, but it might already be doomed from the start. Any proposal in the U.S. Senate will need the support of Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, given the 50/50 split between Republicans and Democrats.
Manchin reportedly stated that he was not yet prepared to endorse a holiday in the gas tax, which was corroborated by his office and statements provided to ABC News.
Manchin told ABC News, “I’m not a yes right now, that’s for sure. “At the end of September, it goes off. Who among the elected officials up here will vote to reinstate that 18-cent tax one month before the November election? Therefore, we continue to dig down more and further.
On the Senate floor on Wednesday night, Republican Senator Capito of West Virginia criticised Biden’s plan to freeze the gas tax for three months. She charged that the Biden administration was pointing fingers rather than owning up to its own shortcomings in restricting American energy production.
They have accused energy suppliers and refiners of price gouging, according to Capito. “Even though gas prices had been progressively rising months before the invasion of Ukraine, they blamed (Russian President) Vladimir Putin.
The White House has chosen to continue blaming others while avoiding accepting accountability for their own conduct. They are aware that their behaviours are hurtful.
In addition, Biden urged governments to give motorists some type of relief, such as by delaying state gas taxes. The Connecticut, New York, Illinois, Colorado, Michigan, and Minnesota initiatives were mentioned by the White House. But Republican state leaders in West Virginia have rejected the concept of a gas tax, not even for 30 days.
Republican legislative leaders and Justice were opposed to the idea and passed up the chance to introduce a gas tax holiday bill to the April special session. Democratic lawmakers began pushing for a 30-day holiday of the state’s 35.7-cent gas tax in March.
At the beginning of June, Justice briefly changed his mind about supporting a gas tax vacation, but after Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, and House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, stood their ground, Justice declared that a gas tax holiday would be “dead on arrival.”
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Justice blamed the Biden administration’s stance toward fossil fuels for increasing gas prices at his virtual briefing on Wednesday. By 2035, according to a goal set by Biden last year, the US should be carbon-neutral.
Justice claimed that the Biden administration “came in and cut everyone off at their knees, whether they were producers of coal, gas, or oil, or whatever it may be.” “Now that we’ve announced a federal gas tax holiday, could you please toss us a tiny, little bone? It’s just nothing, that’s all it is.
Gas prices were $4.90 per gallon, according to AAA, up from $4.46 per gallon a month earlier but slightly down from $4.93 per gallon last week.
