President Joe Biden said Monday that he expects to make a decision on the gas tax holiday by the end of the week, as the administration seeks ways to ease record fuel prices in the midterm election year.
Biden said he was considering a break in the federal gas tax, which some lawmakers in his party have pushed for as a way for Americans to cut prices at the pump.
“Well, I hope I have a decision based on the data I’m looking for … by the end of the week,” Biden said Monday during a vacation in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Gas tax adds a total of 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline – 18.3 cents in excise tax plus 0.1 cents in storage fees. For diesel, the fee is 24.3 cents plus 0.1 cents. The national average price for a gallon on Monday was $ 4,981, according to the AAA.
Tax break? Biden officials say recession is not ‘inevitable’, gas tax holiday remains a possibility
Officials from the Biden administration suggested Sunday that the administration could suspend federal tax gas. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told ABC “this week” that it was “an idea that is definitely worth considering,” and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granhome told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the idea was under consideration.
“Part of the challenge with the gas tax, of course, is that it provides funding for the roads, and we just billed a huge infrastructure to help fund the roads,” Granhome said.
“If we remove the gas tax, it will take away the funds passed by Congress to be able to do that,” she said.
Biden said he spoke Monday morning with Larry Summers, Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration and economic adviser in the Obama administration, who raised alarm bells about a possible recession as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to contain inflation.
“There’s nothing compelling about the recession,” Biden said.
Summer blamed spending on Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion American rescue plan passed in 2021 to boost inflation and called the idea of a gas tax holiday “short-sighted, ineffective, stupid and tactical.”
Biden said he plans to sit down with the CEOs of the oil companies this week and seek an explanation of “how they justify raising $ 35 billion” during the first quarter of 2022.
The president expressed optimism that he would get support in Congress to reduce health care costs, including the $ 35 price limit for insulin – part of his local agenda that has stalled this year.
“I think we will be able to get a change in Medicare and a reduction in the price of insulin,” Biden said.
Biden said he wants to raise taxes on corporations to pay for the proposals, but his plan to change the tax system has met with resistance in an evenly divided Senate.