Congressional leaders are pumping the brakes on President Donald Trump’s plan to suspend the federal gasoline tax, wary of taking a political gamble with relatively little payoff for Americans at the pump.
Republicans and Democrats alike said Tuesday they are open to the idea of temporarily lifting the 18-cent-per-gallon gas tax and that they will discuss the possibility over the coming days.
At the same time, 24 hours after Trump’s call to action — and more than two months into a Middle East war that has caused fuel prices to surge — congressional leaders were not throwing any weight behind legislative proposals, preferring instead to wait and see whether Trump will make a more direct appeal to Congress.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said it is “certainly” an “intriguing” idea but said Republicans still have to assess and consider potential “unintended consequences” before moving forward with a bill.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), who helps set the chamber’s calendar, did not promise a vote on the issue. On Monday, leaders were said to be discussing how to proceed, according to people familiar with the discussions and granted anonymity to speak candidly.
“I mean, obviously we all want to see gas prices come back down. And when the Iran conflict is resolved, they will, and they’ll come down quickly. I don’t think anybody disputes that. You’re seeing the president work really hard to try to get this resolved, and, you know, we’ll see when that happens,” said Scalise.
The trepidation for now to lift the federal gasoline tax underscores Republican leaders’ hesitance to directly confront the Iran war’s impacts and marks the latest flashpoint in Congress’s broader efforts to address energy affordability — one of the biggest issues framing political and policy debates ahead of the November elections.
“It’s a conversation that I think we’re willing to have, and I’m certainly willing — I think most of our colleagues are — to hear the president’s arguments if that’s a case he wants to make to Congress,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Tuesday after a Republican conference lunch in which the gasoline tax holiday was not discussed.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers have pitched bills to temporarily suspend the gasoline tax, but many of their colleagues have questioned whether it would make much of a difference.
“The question I always ask is — it’s 18.4 cents, I think is the federal gas tax — if you lifted that, does that ultimately get passed on to the consumer, to the customer, to the buyer out there? Or does it get sucked up in the supply chain somewhere?” Thune told reporters.
Further complicating the gas tax holiday’s path forward are concerns about the beleaguered Highway Trust Fund. The federal gasoline tax is the fund’s lifeline.
“We’re going to gut the highway fund, and still the price of gas will be higher than ever?” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). “I mean, it is gimmicky when Democrats propose it, and it’s gimmicky when Republicans propose it.”
House Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who is working on passing a highway bill this year, said of a gas tax holiday: “I think it’s a short-term fix. I’m just more concerned about how it affects the trust fund. We’ll take a look at it.”
Pending gasoline tax holiday legislation would make up the difference with general fund dollars, but that would likely encounter resistance from fiscal hawks worried about the deficit.
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chair of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, said of a fuel tax break: “I personally think it’s a great idea. Any time you reduce the tax burden on Americans, it’s a great idea.”
Democratic leaders raised broadly similar concerns in 2022 about a gas tax holiday when then-President Joe Biden floated the policy. And then-presidential hopeful Barack Obama called a temporary gas tax suspension a “gimmick” when it was pitched during the 2008 election cycle.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, which will also work on the highway bill, said on social media that he would pair a gasoline tax holiday with legislation to enact a windfall tax on oil company profits.
Oil and gas trade groups like the American Petroleum Institute and the American Exploration and Production Council say they are not lobbying lawmakers on the tax holiday.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who is sponsoring the main Republican gas tax holiday bill in the Senate, said Tuesday afternoon he hadn’t yet heard from Republican leadership about plans to take up his proposal.
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who chairs the Finance Committee, said the panel “is not working on it right now.”
“I haven’t discussed it with [Trump] or even my colleagues yet. I’m open to looking at it,” Crapo said. “We’ll see.”
Ben Lefebvre, Mike Soraghan, Meredith Lee Hill and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
