Republican Calls on Obama to Back Fuel Tax Hike

Flanked by Democrats in a show of transportation bipartisanship, Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, called Thursday for President Obama to back a highway spending plan with an increase in the federal fuel tax and warned he may not vote for a bill the White House does not fully support.

“This administration has to get engaged,” Voinovich said. “They are not, not one iota.”

Voinovich has gained a higher profile on Capitol Hill over the past week after joining a handful of other Republicans in bucking party leadership by voting for a Democratic-backed jobs bill. He also spoke out forcefully this week for action on a transportation bill he said must include the first increase in the gas tax since 1993, something the administration says it will not support.

“You’ve got to increase the gas tax,” he told a public meeting on transportation hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center. “The bottom line is you’ve got to increase the gas tax. The political clout is out there to do it. This is the right thing to do for the country.”

Voinovich, who is retiring after his current term ends, said this week Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has pledged to bring a transportation bill to the floor before the end of the year.

But, he said, “Without the president and the administration coming out for reauthorization, I may vote against anything that they have this year. You’ve got to take leadership. The bipartisanship is already here. Bring us in. His (Obama’s) leadership is absolutely strategic.”

The question over how to close the gap between infrastructure needs and inadequate revenue from the federal fuel tax has held up consideration of a six-year highway spending plan over the past year, and many Democrats see support for an increase as political suicide.

Sitting with Democrats Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware and Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Voinovich said he has reminded GOP leaders that President Reagan supported a five-cent increase in the gas tax in 1982 and told Republicans if they attacked Democrats over the issue, “they would be cut off.”

“This can’t be seen as an issue where if we pass it, you’re going to bang the Democrats over the head, saying you’re going to lose your seat,” he said.

Carper and Blumenauer said backing from the White House is just as important.

“We need both the Congress and the executive branch on this,” said Carper.