[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 59 (Thursday, May 2, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4576-S4577]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            REPEAL THE GAS TAX AND INCREASE THE MINIMUM WAGE

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I rise to discuss a subject of great 
importance to Montana, my home State, and also to me personally. That 
is the subject of the proposal to cut the gas tax by 4.3 cents over the 
rest of the year.
  I am reminded of a comment made by the great Irish conservative 
thinker, Edmund Burke, in reflections on the revolution of France where 
he said:

       Among an infinite number of acts of violence, of folly, 
     some good may be done. They who destroy everything certainly 
     will remove some grievance. They who make everything new have 
     a chance that they may establish something beneficial.

  That is about where we stand today with the 104th Congress. The 
Congress is approaching its close. The present-day revolutionaries are 
getting ready to put on their hot tar and feathers and mount up on the 
rail to be ridden out of town. Behind them will remain a rather weird 
legacy: Government shutdowns, attempts to repeal the Clean Air Act, 
weaken protection of our lakes and streams, slash student loan programs 
and cut school lunches, and radical experiments with $270 billion 
Medicare cuts.
  But hidden away in this mess are a few good things--a few grievances 
removed, a small number of beneficial things established. They are hard 
to find, but over the next 5 months or so, we need to dig them out, 
pass them and get them up to the President to sign. It is a tough job, 
but today we have found one of them, and that is repeal of the gas tax.

  Folks are hurting at home. Wages are stagnant, cattle prices are 
down, but the cost of housing and the cost of college and a lot of 
other necessities are going up, and we should be here to do something 
about that.
  Some of these problems are pretty complex. But we can start with a 
few simple solutions that will put some more money in an ordinary 
working man's or woman's pocket. That is what repealing the gas tax 
will do.
  Probably that should be enough reason to repeal it, but fairness and 
principle also say that a gas tax that is not devoted directly to 
transportation funding is a bad idea and ought to be repealed.
  The price of gas in Montana is up from $1.29 a gallon in March to 
$1.42 today, as reflected by this chart: $1.29 March 26 and up in just 
a short period of time, over 1 month, up to $1.42 a gallon. Who knows 
where it will be tomorrow, the third line on this chart.
  As part of this, Montanans already pay 27 cents a gallon under a gas 
tax in our State--that is the State gasoline tax--and 14.1 cents a 
gallon for transportation under the Federal gasoline tax. The rest, 4.3 
cents a gallon, is an excise tax that goes to general revenues. Like 
all single-product excise taxes, this 4.3-cent tax is unfair, it is 
narrowly based, and it is grossly unfair to the West where we have to 
drive a long way to work, to the grocery store, or to the hospital.
  That is why I have opposed gas taxes. I opposed the gas tax hike in 
1990. I remember back in 1993, the administration proposed a gas tax of 
9.3 cents a gallon. I spent nearly a month fighting them down, a tenth 
of a cent by a tenth of a cent to the present 4.3-cent level.
  As I said then, and I will quote, ``I will vote for the $500 billion 
deficit reduction plan because I don't want to let perfection be the 
enemy of the good. The deficits we have run up have already laid a $4 
trillion debt on the backs of our children, and fast action on the 
deficit is the best way to increase business confidence and keep 
interest rates low so jobs will be created by expanding business and 
people can refinance their mortgages. But make no mistake about it, the 
gas tax is a weak point in this package.''
  The majority leader's proposal is a relatively modest proposal. It 
does not cure the weak point in the 1993 package completely by 
repealing the gas tax; instead, it is a temporary 7-month reduction, 
essentially a limited constructive response to an emergency caused by 
the sudden increase in gas taxes last month.

  There is a little work ahead. We need to balance the budget, so we 
need to make sure that the gas tax cut is offset and does not widen the 
deficit. That is critical. The offset needs to be a fair one and does 
not simply put a new burden on working people, and we need to be sure 
that oil companies do not simply use the gas tax cut to raise prices 
again.
  With that aside, it is a good idea. As historians mull over the 
Government shutdowns and otherwise pick through the debris left by the 
revolutionary Congress, they will be able to say, ``At least they got 
one thing right.''
  We ought to be able to do this quickly, to take a few cents a gallon 
off at the pump, and at the same time we ought to be able to raise the 
minimum wage. I was on the phone yesterday with some minimum wage 
workers in Bozeman. A raise of 90 cents an hour will let them stay 
ahead on electric bills and on water bills. It will let a single-
working mom give the kids a night at the movies every once in a while, 
give a donation to a church, maybe buy a couple of books, and that is 
not asking a lot.
  So these are the right things to do. We ought to get the gas tax 
repealed by Memorial Day, and we ought to get the minimum wage raised 
by Memorial Day.
  I hope people in both parties will take a fair, independent look at 
these ideas because they are good ideas, and they help ordinary people 
make ends meet. They deserve the Senate's support. Mr. President, I 
yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

[[Page S4577]]

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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