As GOP hammers Democrats over fuel prices, Davids of Kansas pushes halting gas tax
Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids is potentially facing a tough reelection campaign this year.
Already running in a year where the opposition party traditionally gains seats in Congress, Davids has been saddled with pandemic-related supply chain issues, inflation, polling that shows the president is unpopular and, if upheld in the courts, a district that has fewer Democrats than the last time she ran.
That was before the war in Ukraine contributed to soaring gas prices.
Republicans have been hammering President Joe Biden and the Democrats over how much it has cost to fill up your car over the past month — using the crisis as a political issue just as campaigns are slowly heating up in an election year.
Davids is attempting to get ahead of the attacks. On Monday, her campaign launched its first radio ad placing the blame for higher prices on the war in Ukraine and pandemic-related supply chain issues and saying she’s trying to offer solutions.
One part of her plan: Suspend the 18.4 cent per gallon federal gas tax.
“We’re trying to figure out ways to do everything we can to help people,” Davids said. “And 18 cents a gallon actually can make a pretty big difference when you’re filling up your gas tank.”
Davids laid out her stance on higher gasoline prices in a letter to Biden last week. In it, she called for Biden to ban the U.S. import of Russian crude oil because of their invasion of Ukraine, a position that came with the political risk of driving up prices.
She also had a two-fold suggestion for lowering prices: She wanted Biden to draw a larger amount of oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and to suspend the federal gas tax, which faces an uphill battle in Congress.
They match ideas pushed by other Democrats facing tough reelection bids in the fall. In the Senate, a bill has been proposed by Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who won by 2 percentage points in 2020, and New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan, who won by less than 1 percentage point.
Davids is already using opposition to the proposals to push back on her likely Republican opponent in the general election, Amanda Adkins, calling her a wealthy politician and implying she was out-of-touch with people who are hurting from the high gas prices.
Adkins’ campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Adkins lost to Davids by 10 points in the 2020 election.
On Twitter, Adkins has echoed the comments of Republican senators like Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, who have said suspending the gasoline tax wouldn’t do much to help people.
“It’s a really small percentage of the problem,” Blunt said. “It’s only an effort by some politicians to convince people that you’re doing something when you’re really not doing much to solve the bigger problem.”
While Biden can tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, experts question whether it would do much to bring down prices. The reserve can release a maximum of 4 million barrels of oil a day to a global market that consumes around 100 million barrels a day.
Meanwhile, a bill in Congress, proposed before Russia invaded Ukraine, would suspend the federal gasoline tax through the end of the year.
That 18.4 cent per gallon tax amounts to about $2.76 extra when filling up a 15 gallon tank. It does not apply to the federal tax on diesel. Kansas levies its own 24 cents per gallon tax.
Unlike a retail tax, the federal gas tax comes when gas is removed from a refinery or when it’s imported. And, as gasoline prices have remained high even though crude oil prices have dropped back down below $100 a barrel, some are concerned that any suspension of the gas tax would just go into the pockets of energy companies, instead of lowering prices at the station.
Proponents of the legislation point to language in the bill that encourages the secretary of the treasury to ensure that the savings are passed onto the consumer, but a report by the Congressional Research Service says enforcement could be difficult because the price of gasoline changes in each locality.
Then there’s the cost. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that suspending the tax would cost the federal government $20 billion in funding for road projects. The bill moves money from the general fund into the highway trust fund to account for the loss of money for road projects.
The bill faces opposition in Congress. Oregon Rep. Peter DiFazio, the chairman of the House Transportation Committee, has been a vocal opponent, saying it would create uncertainty about the funding of future road projects while bringing little savings for consumers.
Davids said that she has supported long-term solutions, like the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which creates more charging stations for electric vehicles, and that she thinks any savings in the short term are helpful.
“I think maybe depending on your financial situation, 18 cents can make a huge difference,” Davids said. “Like my mom will drive across town to save 5 cents.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 11:12 AM.