Bush Dismisses Proposal to Raise Gas Tax

[appleannie1]

Source: Forbes

WASHINGTON - A week after a deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis, President Bush on Thursday dismissed raising the federal gasoline tax to repair bridges at least until Congress changes how it spends highway money.

"The way it seems to have worked is that each member on that (Transportation) committee gets to set his or her own priorities first," Bush said. "That's not the right way to prioritize the people's money. Before we raise taxes, which could affect economic growth, I would strongly urge the Congress to examine how they set priorities."

About $24 billion, or 8 percent of the last $286 billion highway bill, was devoted to highway and bridge projects singled out by lawmakers. The balance is distributed through grants to states, which decide how it will be spent. Federal money accounts for about 45 percent of all infrastructure spending.

The Democratic chairman of the House Transportation Committee proposed a 5-cent increase in the 18.3 cents-a-gallon federal gasoline tax to establish a new trust fund for repairing or replacing structurally deficient highway bridges.


Read more: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/09/ap4005074.html

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I guess no one bothered to inform him that it was his buddies in Congress that misused funds for their pet projects during the reign of the last Congress. Hopefully enough people realize that was a couple years ago and has nothing to do with who is in control of Congress now. Just like him though to try to shift blame to the Dems.

[atreides1]

1. What the people get to know....

....is totally dependent on what the media tells them, and as long as the Dems keep wanting to play nice and try to get along with everyone, the people won't know the truth.

[ohio2007]

2. gas tax gets us a lock on $4/gal at the pump.

many people will feel the pinch at the consumer price levels also.
jmo

[fed-up]

3. DON'T need another f*cking tax-let OIL Compny's obscene blood profits pay for repairs/upgrades nt

[Just-plain-Kathy]

7. What happened to our tolls paying for repairs?

We sell our roads, ports and bridges to other countries...they get rich and our infrastructure
falls apart.

[dickbearton]

4. Nationalize oil...

That would work better then impeachment. The oilmen would
squeal like the pigs they are.

[19jet54]

5. Bush Dismisses ANYTHING not his Idea?

This dumb country bumpkin from Crawford is as easy to read as a children's book! (if you CAN read)

[rodeodance]

6. and W claims He KNOWS how to set priorites (Iraq is great spending):

Part of my concerns, of course, is that there are different sets of priorities in both bodies. And it seems like to me that the Congress needs to come together, solve their differences -- solve their differences first, and then bring them to the White House and see if we can find accommodation. I have proven in the past though, Ann, that one is able to set priorities -- keep taxes low, grow the economy and reduce the deficit. In other words, we have cut taxes, causing economic growth, which caused there to be this year alone $187 billion more tax dollars coming into the Treasury; the deficit is reduced to 1.5 percent of GDP, which on a 40-year historical average is very low, or is low, below the average. And we've proven that you can set priorities and meet obligations. And so the Congress needs to learn to do that itself.

Q But you're confident that you can continue to sustain the kind of level of spending that you've invested in, in Iraq?

THE PRESIDENT: I would certainly hope so, because when you say, sustain the level of spending, you're mainly talking about making sure our troops have what it takes to do the job we've asked them to do. I know there's a lot of members who don't agree with the decisions I've made; I would certainly hope they would agree, however, that once someone is in combat or in harm's way, that they get the full support of the federal government. That's exactly what their families expect and that's what the Commander-in-Chief expects, as well. .......

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070809-1.html

[Lionel Mandrake]

8. What a surprise.

Since raising the gas tax would tend to reduce consumption of gasoline, which would reduce profits of oil companies, it was predictable that W would oppose it. The fact that the idea came from a Democrat just reinforces W's knee-jerk reaction.

[razzleberry]

9. states get more room to raise taxes

and get to keep ALL the new revenue

[deacon]

10. He will replace the bridge with a ferry. n/t