Gas prices have reached an all-time high, and POTUS wants it to end.
As many of us have felt in the last several months, the price of a gallon of gas is rapidly becoming unaffordable. For some, it’s already there. When it costs upwards of $50 to fill up a Toyota Camry, things could be considered pretty desperate. The White House says it has a fix.
Today, President Biden called on Congress to take legislative action to provide relief from what the White House calls the “Putin Price Hike.” Biden has called for the suspension of the federal gas tax for three months and is calling on individual states to take similar action to provide some sort of direct relief for their citizens. Hopefully, that means gas will get a little cheaper, if only until September.
The White House called it the “Federal Gas Tax Holiday” in a press release. Currently, the Feds charge 18c tax per gallon of gas and 24c per gallon of diesel. Those taxes fund highways and public transport through what is known as the Highway Trust Fund. Biden wants this solution implemented without taking money from that. The White House said this will “give Americans a little extra breathing room as they deal with the effects of Putin’s war in Ukraine.“
The President believes that the government can afford to suspend the gas tax while simultaneously using other revenues to make the Highway Trust Fund whole, an act which comes to a massive $10 billion sum, citing the country’s historic $1.6 trillion reduction in national debt this year. The release states that “President Biden understands that a gas tax holiday alone will not, on its own, relieve the run-up in costs that we’ve seen. But the President believes that at this unique moment when the war in Ukraine is imposing costs on American families.”
In calling on the states to do their bit, The White House praised the actions of Connecticut, New York, Illinois, Colorado, Michigan, and Minnesota, all of which have made efforts to ease the burden on the average American, either in the form of tax breaks, delaying increases in fees, or providing rebates and relief payments.
Other actions have been taken by Biden to ease the hike in gas prices, including releasing one million barrels per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, expanding access to biofuels to increase supply at gas stations, and engaging with oil and refining companies to ask them to work with the Biden Administration to lower the price of gas.
Secretary Granholm is set to meet with those CEOs this week. For now, this is merely an ask, and serious legislative action in this matter has yet to be taken. Given the tone surrounding gas prices right now, we expect to see more serious measures being taken soon.
