[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16456-16457]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1100
                              THE GAS TAX

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, 1 year ago today, I introduced the first 
gas tax increase in over 20 years. I was

[[Page 16457]]

joined by a broad coalition in announcing the bill, supported by the 
AFL-CIO, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, building and construction 
industries and their unions, local governments, AAA and the truckers, 
environmentalists, transit, and cyclists. It was gratifying to have 
that broad base of support. One year later, the only thing that has 
changed is that the need, if anything, is greater and the path forward 
is even easier.
  I just completed a press conference with my good friend Tom Petri and 
with President Ronald Reagan. President Reagan, in 1982, in his 
Thanksgiving Day radio address, explained why we needed to raise the 
gas tax.
  He said: ``One of our greatest material blessings is the outstanding 
network of roads and highways that spreads across this great continent. 
Freedom of travel and the romance of the road are vital parts of our 
heritage, and they help make America great.
  ``We simply cannot allow this magnificent system to deteriorate 
beyond repair. The time has come to preserve what Americans spent so 
much time and effort to create, and that means a nationwide 
conservation effort in the best sense of the word.
  ``So I am asking Congress when it reconvenes next week to approve a 
new highway program that will enable us to complete construction of the 
interstate system and at the same time get on with the job of 
renovating existing highways. The program will not increase the Federal 
deficit or add to the taxes that you and I pay on April 15. It will be 
paid for by those of us who use the system, and it will cost the 
average car owner only about $30 a year. That is less than the cost of 
a couple of shock absorbers.
  ``So what we are proposing is to add the equivalent of 5 cents a 
gallon to the existing highway user fee, the gas tax, which hasn't been 
increased in the last 23 years. The cost to the average motorist will 
be small, but the benefit to our transportation system will be immense. 
The program will stimulate 170,000 jobs, not make-work projects, but in 
real, worthwhile work in hard-hit construction industries, and an 
additional 150,000 jobs in related industries.
  ``Perhaps most important, we will be preserving for future 
generations of Americans a highway system that has long been the envy 
of the world and has truly made the average American driver king of the 
road.
  ``Thanks for listening, and until next time, God bless you.''
  That is a speech that could be given by any of us or by President 
Obama--and should be. Congress did return after that holiday, and 
President Reagan and Tip O'Neill more than doubled the gas tax. What 
has not changed is that we haven't raised the gas tax in 22 years. It 
costs the average family $377 per year in damage to their cars.
  If we increase the gas tax according to my proposal, H.R. 3636, it 
won't create 300,000 jobs; it will create 1.5 million family-wage jobs 
across the country.
  Mr. Speaker, I understand people don't like the gas tax. I don't like 
the gas tax. I want to raise it, index it, and then abolish it and 
replace it with something that is sustainable. But in the meantime, 
raising the gas tax is the only viable approach, as verified by two 
Presidential commissions that reported to President Bush.
  We have been asleep at the switch. It is time for us to step up. At a 
time of dramatically falling gas prices--23 cents on average in the 
last month, and they are projected to continue going down--now is the 
perfect time to step up, to raise the gas tax slowly over the next 3 
years, rebuild and renew America, put family-wage jobs across the 
spectrum, and make our communities more livable, our families safer, 
healthier, and more economically secure.
  All it takes is a little leadership and courage. Like Ronald Reagan 
and Tip O'Neill did 32 years ago, I think we can do that now, and we 
should.

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