LaHood Fends Off Lawmakers On Fuel Taxes

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood came under fire Tuesday from House lawmakers over infrastructure financing, taking heat from those for and against raising taxes to pay for highway and transit projects.

LaHood restated the Obama administration’s opposition to raising federal fuel taxes, and defended his remarks from last week that various other “outside the box” financing ideas could help cover surface transportation needs without a tax hike.

The secretary told a highway builders conference July 23 that “raising the gas tax is not an option.” But senior members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee challenged him on the issue, including ranking Republican Rep. John Mica, who seemed to believe he had turned LaHood against a tax increase at the hearing.

The Florida Republican told LaHood the November election would bring “a conservative wave” that would leave Congress less willing to raise federal fuel taxes.

Although LaHood and other officials have repeatedly said the president and the DOT do not favor raising the gas tax while the economy is weak, Mica asked LaHood if he was “going to continue advocating a gas tax increase” to fund transportation needs.

LaHood said over his 18 months as DOT secretary “I’ve never advocated a gas tax. The president is opposed to raising the gas tax . . . We have almost 10 percent unemployment in America. People can little afford to buy a gallon of gasoline, let alone if we were to raise the tax on it. So I do not advocate, the administration does not advocate, raising the gas tax.”

Mica told LaHood, “I’m glad to hear you join me in declaring it dead.” Mica also said he favors a much larger discretionary infrastructure fund than the $4 billion a year the administration is seeking, and said he would want such a fund to be about 10 times that size.

But Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who chairs the highways and transit subcommittee, chided LaHood for suggesting the nation’s transportation needs could be met by a combination of current-level Highway Trust Fund taxes, the proposed discretionary spending fund, road or bridge tolls and greater use of partnerships that combine public money with private investments.