03-18-2000

TRANSPORTATION: Drilling for Political Gain

Congressional Republicans and the White House this week continued to
explore ways to parlay consumer frustration over gas prices into gains at
the polls. Republicans drilled Democrats for increasing the gas tax in
1993 by 4.3 cents per gallon; the GOP has dubbed it the "Gore
tax" because of the Vice President's tie-breaking Senate vote to pass
it. But senior House Republicans idled the notion of repealing the tax:
Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa., warned that states could lose $18.8 billion over
two years in road-building assistance, while Majority Leader Dick Armey,
R-Texas, told reporters on March 14, "Let's not get bogged down on
only one dimension of the problem-a short-term dimension that offers scant
relief." Republicans charged that the Clinton Administration's
environmental and tax policies have forced U.S. oil companies to scale
back production and have increased dependence on foreign oil. Sen. Frank
Murkowski, R-Alaska, is preparing a legislative package that will probably
include permission to explore for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. For its part, the White House blamed Republicans for
"political grandstanding" and for failing to act on a $3.6
billion energy-efficiency package that could help Americans get more miles
from a gallon of gas.


Brody Mullins/CongressDaily

National Journal