U.S. House Democrats Approve Infrastructure Bill, Dead On Arrival In The Senate
Last week, U.S. House passed a comprehensive infrastructure bill known as “The Moving Forward Act” (H.R.2) totaling $1.5 trillion passed mainly along party lines– Democrats supporting.
The initiative includes the bill passed by the House Transportation Committee recently, and it adds sections on water and energy infrastructure, broadband, housing and schools, healthcare and aviation.
Click here for a complete breakdown of provisions important to fuel marketers.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called the bill “a multi-thousand-page cousin of the Green New Deal masquerading as a highway bill” and said the package had no chance in the Senate.
A coalition of farm and fuel groups including PMAA sent a letter to all 535 members of Congress late Monday addressing concerns in H.R. 2. The letter specifically asks members of Congress to not further expand the federal electric vehicle tax credit, which disproportionately benefits a small group of Americans.
It also asks that infrastructure investment dollars be spent on projects that will benefit all Americans, not just EV owners. And finally, it asks Congress to protect utility ratepayers from shouldering the cost burden of increased investment in EV charging infrastructure.
H.R. 2 currently lacks a full “pay for” meaning it is unlikely that a potential multiyear surface transportation bill is signed into law this year.
The 24.4 cents-per-gallon diesel tax and 18.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax have remained unchanged since 1993.
Congress is more than likely to pass a short-term reauthorization of surface transportation programs into next year since current law is set to expire on September 30, 2020.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has marked up its own surface transportation bill, S. 2302, but it is unclear when the Senate will move forward with their version.
