| Of course they do. |
Despite calls from the presidential campaign trail for a Memorial Day-to-Labor Day tax freeze, lawmakers quickly concluded — with a prod from the construction industry — that having $9 billion less to spend on highways could create a pre-election specter of thousands of lost jobs.
Now, lawmakers quietly are talking about raising fuel taxes by a dime from the current 18.4 cents a gallon on gasoline and 24.3 cents on diesel fuel.
| "We'll put all things on the table," Oberstar said, but the gas tax "is the cornerstone. Nothing else will work without the underpinning of the higher user fee gas tax." |
McCain said the money could come out of the general Treasury fund, in effect adding to the federal deficit, and is still getting mileage from the idea. "Some economists don't think much of my gas tax holiday," he said in a speech this month. "But the American people like it, and so do small business owners."