Sen. Carper moves to hike gas tax
By Keith Laing - 06/25/14 05:47 PM EDT
Sen. Tom Carper
(D-Del.) introduced legislation on Wednesday that would nearly 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, which is currently priced at 18.4 cents-per-gallon, by four
cents each year until it reaches 30 cents-per-gallon.
The Delaware
lawmaker said it was important to debate the potential gas tax increase while
lawmakers are considering a temporary measure to extend transportation funding
beyond the midterm elections this week.
“Multiple bailouts of the Highway Trust
Fund have added more than $54 billion to our nation’s debt since 2009,” Carper
said in a statement.
“That’s why in 2010, former Sen. George
Voinovich (R-Ohio) and I called for a gradual increase in federal gas and
diesel taxes – which have not been adjusted since 1993 – as part of any
comprehensive deficit reduction plan,” he continued. “Today, I still believe that re-establishing
the purchasing power of the fuel tax is the best policy for funding our federal
transportation program.”
Lawmakers are struggling with a way to pay
for a transportation funding bill to replace the current infrastructure
appropriations bill that is scheduled to expire at the end of September.
Complicating the deadline facing lawmakers
further, the Department of Transportation has said that it will run out of
money for its Highway Trust Fund in August if Congress does not act.
The gas tax has long been the traditional
source for paying for federal transportation projects. Infrastructure expenses
have outpaced receipts from the tax by about $16 billion annually in recent
years as cars have become more fuel efficient.
The gas tax currently brings in about $34
billion. By contrast, the expiring transportation bill includes approximately
$50 billion per year in road and transit spending, which is the level that
infrastructure advocates are trying now to maintain.
Carper said Wednesday that increasing the
gas tax is the only way to pay for the long-term transportation bill that is
being sought by infrastructure advocates.
“Indexing these taxes to inflation is a
common sense way to ensure the value of these transportation user fees does not
continue to erode,” he said. “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 Senate Finance Committee is scheduled
to mark up its temporary transportation funding bill on Thursday.
The measure includes approximately $9
billion to carry transportation funding from the beginning of October until the
end of the year.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron
Wyden (D-Ore.) said this week the stopgap bill was the best lawmakers could do
in the tight window they are facing before projected Highway Trust Fund
bankruptcy.
“Strong transportation and infrastructure
are critical to a growing and healthy American economy. I hope to see the
committee take decisive bipartisan action and send a clear message that
stabilizing the Highway Trust Fund is a priority now,” Wyden said in a
statement when his plan was released.
“Failure to act now could lead to a
transportation shutdown, leaving our roads in disrepair and putting thousands
of hard-working Americans out of their jobs," he added.
Transportation advocates have said there
is “no excuse” for lawmakers to not to approve a long term infrastructure funding
bill, even if they have to raise the gas tax to pay for it.
“While there appears to be movement on
ensuring that the Highway Trust fund does not go bankrupt by the end of this
summer, Congress has no valid excuses to not act on a long-term plan,” Laborers'
International Union of North America (LIUNA) President Terry O’Sullivan said in
a statement on Wednesday.
“A fourth of America’s bridges are deficient or
obsolete,” O’Sullivan continued. “Poor road surfaces, such as potholes, are now
a contributing factor to a third of traffic fatalities, needlessly costing
approximately 10,000 lives every year.”
Tom Carper
Thomas R.
Carper is a U.S. Senate senator, and an honorary
co-chair for the Third Way.
Note: Third Way
(Past Research)
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Bernard
L. Schwartz is a trustee at the Third Way, and was a funder for
the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Lewis B.
Cullman is a trustee at the Third Way, and was a funder for
the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
William
M. Daley is a trustee at the Third Way, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and the chief
of staff for the Barack Obama administration.
Peter B.
Lewis was a trustee at the Third Way, a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, a director
at the Center for American Progress, a contributor
for MoveOn.org, a contributor for the American Bridge 21st Century, a supporter for America Coming Together, and a donor for Media Matters.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the Center for
American Progress, and the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
George Soros
is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations,
was a supporter for the Center for American
Progress, a contributor for MoveOn.org, a contributor
for the American Bridge 21st Century, a
supporter for America Coming Together, and the
chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for
American Progress, Media Matters, the
International Rescue Committee, the Aspen Institute (think tank), and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
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Radke is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), and a trustee at the Third Way.
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loan program is a loan program for the U.S. Department of Energy,
and provided a loan guarantee for Solyndra, Inc.
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Silver was an executive director for the DOE loan
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Georgette
F. Bennett is a trustee at the Third Way, and an overseer at
the International Rescue Committee.
Reynold Levy
is an overseer at the International Rescue
Committee, was a trustee at the Third Way,
and an advisory board member for the Aspen Institute (think
tank).
Sidney
Harman was a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think
tank), and the chairman for Harman International
Industries, Inc.
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Lakes Harman is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think
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McLaughlin Korologos was the chair emeritus for the Aspen
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Frank was a director at Harman International
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Crown is a trustee at the Aspen Institute
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Club of Chicago.
Lester Crown
was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute
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Kathleen
Brown is a member of the Commercial Club
of Chicago, California state government governor Jerry Brown’s
sister, was the California state government treasurer, and an attorney at O'Melveny & Myers LLP.
Ronald
A. Klain was a partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP,
the chief of staff to the vice president for the Barack Obama
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Kathryn
B. Thomson was a partner at Sidley Austin LLP,
is the general counsel for the U.S. Department of
Transportation, and married to Christopher P. Lu.
Claude
S. Brinegar was the secretary for the U.S. Department of
Transportation, the SVP for the Union Oil Company,
and the vice chairman for the Unocal Corporation.
Christopher
P. Lu is married to Kathryn B. Thomson,
the deputy secretary nominee for the U.S. Department of Labor,
and was a litigation associate at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack Obama
was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.
Newton N.
Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP,
and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
R. Eden
Martin is counsel at Sidley Austin LLP,
and the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
William
M. Daley is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago,
a trustee at the Third Way, was a funder for the
Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation,
and the chief of staff for the Barack Obama
administration.
Valerie
B. Jarrett is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago,
the senior adviser for the Barack Obama
administration, and her great uncle is Vernon E.
Jordan Jr.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a senior counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, an honorary
trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think
tank).
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Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the Shell Oil Company, and was a funder for the Center for American Progress.
Royal
Dutch Shell plc is a subsidiary of the Shell Oil Company.
Peter B.
Lewis was a director at the Center for American
Progress, a trustee at the Third Way, a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, a contributor
for MoveOn.org, a contributor for the American Bridge 21st Century, a supporter for America Coming Together, and a donor for Media Matters.
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