Trump says he's "thinking about" suspending the federal gas tax to give working Americans relief at the pump — the same relief his own party blocked three weeks ago.
House Republican leadership shelved a gas tax suspension bill in September after the conference couldn't agree. Democrats have their own version sitting idle. The uniparty result: nothing moves, and you keep paying $4.37 a gallon.
"We're thinking about that," Trump said Tuesday when asked whether the federal gas tax should be suspended, Reuters reported. He offered no details on how a suspension would pass a Congress that already refused to vote on one. The Guardian framed the float as Trump "noticing voter anger" before midterms; it omitted entirely that Republicans in the House had already killed the measure. The Daily Caller led with that kill — and it's the part that matters.
The math is straightforward. The federal government levies an 18.4-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline and 24.4 cents on diesel. Suspending it would shave roughly 4 percent off a gallon of regular, according to The Guardian's calculation. Not nothing. Not a rescue either.
The politics are the story. Republican Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, introduced a bill September 15 to temporarily suspend federal fuel taxes. The next day, House Speaker Mike Johnson said leadership decided against a vote because the Republican conference didn't agree, Roll Call reported. Republican Missouri Rep. Sam Graves, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, opposed bringing the bill to the floor, according to co-sponsor Republican Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins.
"Republican swamp creatures are obviously tone deaf to Americans' concerns over fuel costs," Harris wrote on X September 15. "Good luck in November."
Democrats aren't rushing to help either. Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Democratic New Hampshire Rep. Chris Pappas introduced bills earlier this year to suspend the gasoline tax through October 1, Thomson Reuters reported. Those went nowhere.
Congress has never suspended the federal gas tax, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. A five-month suspension would cut gas tax revenue by about $17 billion — 46 percent of the gas and diesel tax revenue projected to flow to the Highway Trust Fund in fiscal year 2026. That's the real reason Washington hesitates: the money feeds the infrastructure state, and the infrastructure state gets paid before you do.
The price pressure traces back to the Iran war, which pushed fuel costs sharply higher, The Guardian reported. Trump told supporters prices are "coming way down" and oil will drop "as soon as the war is over, which will be soon." He gave no date for the war's end. In the meantime, he signed an executive order at a Nebraska rally temporarily allowing truckers to use tax-exempt dyed diesel on highways — a step that doesn't require Congress.
Trump's approval rating sat at a record low 32 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed Monday, with Americans most concerned about the cost of living. The people who run both parties can read a poll. They just can't seem to read a gas pump.
