Corker, gas tax holiday plan "is solely pandering"

Corker bashes McCain gas tax holiday plan
By John Rodgers

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker called a federal gas tax holiday proposed by Republican colleague and presidential candidate John McCain “pandering extraordinaire” Monday.

“I think all of us realize this is solely pandering,” Corker said in remarks to reporters after speaking to the Nashville Rotary.

Both Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and McCain (R-Ariz.), the GOP’s presumptive nominee, are backing a suspension of the federal gas tax to ease Americans’ burden at the pump.

Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination, front-running Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), is against the proposal, calling it a “classic Washington gimmick.”

Corker (R-Tenn.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, essentially sided with Obama on Monday.

The state’s freshman senator pointed out that both Clinton and McCain are in favor of so-called “cap and trade” legislation, which Corker says, “actually is a tax on gasoline.”

“So again, if that’s not pandering, I don’t know what it is,” Corker told reporters. “It’s very disappointing to see. I think as a country we need to have a real energy policy that ensures that Americans are going to be able to have access to petroleum at fair prices over time and that we’re not transferring this huge amount of wealth overseas that we’re doing every day.”

When asked if he was disappointed in McCain’s proposing of the idea, Corker said: “I watch what happens during election years, and nothing surprises me.”

Jeff Sadosky, a McCain campaign spokesman, said McCain “understands” Americans are “clearly hurting because of the price they’re paying at the pump.”

“A federal gas tax holiday would at a time when Americans are driving the most put a little of money back into hardworking Americans’ pockets,” Sadosky said.

Tennessee’s senior senator, Republican Lamar Alexander, is also against McCain’s gas tax holiday plan.

The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon. That’s on top of Tennessee’s 21.4-cents-per-gallon tax.

Clinton’s gas tax suspension plan would be paid for through a windfall profits tax on oil companies. The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, Obama called a gas tax holiday a “classic Washington gimmick” that would save the average driver $28 if the gas tax were suspended for three months.

“That’s assuming that the oil companies don’t step in and raise prices by the same amount that the tax has been reduced,” Obama said. “And, by the way, I have some experience on this because in Illinois we tried this when I was in the state Legislature, and that’s exactly what happened. The oil companies, the retailers were the ones who ended up benefiting.”

Corker’s argument against suspending the gas tax may be aided at the state level because Tennesseans’ might not see any relief at the pump from it.

Under state law, any reduction in federal highway funds after July 1 would be offset by a hike in the state’s gas tax.

“(The law) basically says that if it were ever suspended or eliminated, that effective July 1, 2008, the state gas tax would rise to meet the loss of the federal gas tax,” said Julie Oaks, a spokeswoman with the Department of Transportation.

But under McCain’s plan, Tennessee’s share of highway funding wouldn’t be affected, Sadosky says, because the federal highway trust fund would be made up “penny for penny, dollar for dollar with revenues from the general fund.”

Those revenues would come available through “increased vigilance on wasteful spending,” Sadosky says.