Altoona Times

Democratic senators are backing a proposal to suspend the federal gasoline tax, a fact that is raising eyebrows among critics who claim supporters are backing it only because they’ll soon be up for reelection.

The notion of waiving the 18.4-cent gas tax could be significant in Pennsylvania, which reportedly has the third-highest gas tax in the nation (58.7 cents per gallon) behind California and Illinois, according to The Mercury. The American Automobile Association says the current gas prices in Pennsylvania are $3.75 for regular and $4.30 for diesel.

According to a Wall Street Journal editorial, the proposed tax suspension would last through the end of 2022 -- right after the midterm elections. The editorial noted that Democrats are blaming the rise on many factors, but not on President Joe Biden.

“Rising gas prices are a global issue caused by the behavior of Russia and other factors,” U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) told The Wall Street Journal. While global factors are part of the issue, the WSJ editorial board points out that the Biden administration has also pushed to make things more difficult on fossil fuel producers.

"The Biden administration has slow-rolled oil and gas permits, halted lease sales on federal land, suspended leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and pushed financial regulation to deny capital to fossil fuels, while activist progressive investors abet the industry’s strangulation," the WSJ editorial board wrote.

A federal gas tax suspension would lower prices to where they were in October 2021, although they may not stay there, as crude oil prices recently passed $90 per barrel and could rise even more this summer.

"Senate Democrats who want to suspend the gas tax (also) support President Biden’s Build Back Better Act that would impose myriad new taxes on U.S. oil and gas,” the WSJ editorial board pointed out.