Pelosi: Gas Tax Holiday Would Defeat Everything We're Doing To Lower Oil Costs

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has come out strongly against the idea of a gas tax holiday, versions of which are being proposed by Sens. Clinton and McCain:

First of all, there's no reason to believe that any moratorium on the gas tax will be passed onto the consumer, first and foremost. This has not been the history, of a lowered gas tax being passed onto the consumer. Second of all, it would defeat everything we've been trying to do to lower the cost of oil. ... There are other remedies that are much better than that, and again, have a direct impact on the problem that we're trying to solve. I think the biggest answer to our challenges is to invest in renewable energy resources and to do it now.

The Clinton camp defended its call for a gas tax holiday, though HuffPost's Sam Stein reported that no experts can be found in support of such a policy.

Comments

[rollingdivision]

So, let me get this right, Pelosi is for increasing gasoline taxes. First of all, because increased taxes on industries and specific products are paid for by the corporations and not the public, just like windfall profit taxes. Second of all, increasing the cost of gas would help everything she is doing to lower the cost of oil. And third, she has a plan to spend tax payer money on government projects which will end all issues with energy. This would work just like all the other fine, efficient inventive government programs. Increased taxes on gasoline will be paid for by big oil and the additional revenue will fund the subsidies for alternative energy which is not economically feasible, but will be the solution.

[ErnestineBass]

You do know Reagan is dead, don't you?

[kenjisan]

Thank you - could you please relay this to "MS I don't have to listen to anyone!"

[jalapeno]

How about reducing demand by stopping the war, Tanks get 2 miles to the gallon. Hummers -8

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Not that I agree with lowering the gas tax, but only in Pelosi-land would lowering a tax on something be construed as working CONTRARY to lowering its cost.

Ding. Bat.

How's that impeachment going?

[moda31]

how dare you disagree with clinton/mccain '08, another angry letter from clinton donors will be heading your way soon nancy!!

[emmaspeaks]

"How dare you" that's funny. Who do you think YOU are?

[PrdAmerican]

Hey, remember when our grandparents had to go through gas rationing during WWII?...Re­member when people were actually asked to sacrafice for the good of the whole nation? Guess that's off the table in today's me, me, me..me...i­t's all about me world.

[tellinya]

PrdAmerican:

YES! I´m from the decade (70´s) where - if it´s yellow let it mellow - was invented. We gotta pull together and buy more fuel efficient cars and homes or the new up and coming nations will eat us alive.

[Sneaky]

Did you ever stop to think about whether or not our grandparents should have been asked to sacrifice for their nation in the first place? The embargoes placed on Japan were nothing short of stupid and provocative, and I'm not sure the exclusive assistance to Allied forces in Europe were the brightest of ideas, either. We the Government brought the war onto itself, then asked We the People to sacrifice for We the Government to continue fighting, especially given the unconstitutional Draft which placed supposed ownership of one's life and liberty in the hands of a government with no legal authority to take such ownership.

Whether or not we should have become involved in WWII (that's a different argument), We The People should not have been asked to sacrifice. Sacrifice is the duty of the government, for the purpose of ensuring prosperity for its people, not the duty of people for the prosperity of their government.

[going2ireland]

You are side stepping the me me me me mentality of most of this nation today.

Deal with that first and you will find many problems will slowly be solved.

[Daisy1111]

Oh jeeze! Pelosi is justifying her decision to force people to conserve on gas consumption?

These oil prices per barrel are also driving up the cost of groceries, Ms. Pelosi.

Trucks can't "conserve" gas delivering supplies.

Why doesn't Pelosi call for Bush to release oil from the USA's strategic oil reserve?

That would make oil prices plummet.

Other presidents have done that for a short term relief when conditions weren't even as bad as now.


Get real Ms Pelosi. We all know you want to be the first woman president and you want Hillary out of your way.

Be honest.

[memoryaid]

buy your groceries locally!

this will benefit small local farmers in the US who won't have to compete with imports from Mexico and Spain.

my lettuce in Boston shouldn't come from California.

[Daisy1111]

I already buy my fruits & vegetables from local farmers. YEs, it saves me money and the quality is better.

But, for example, I have two big Labrador retrievers. They eat a lot of dog food.

I give them a combo of dry, canned and table scraps.

Dog food has crept up to 30-cent more per can in the last year. They get 2 cans each per day. That's $18 MORE per month -- just on dog food.

Bags of dry ood -- even the big economy size -- $2-$3 dollars more per bag. I use two bags per month.

So now I'm spending $22 more per month on dog food thanks to h price of gas.

Does Pelosi want me to put my dogs down?

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

you moonbat... lettuce dont grow year round in Vermont

[KillTheMessenger]

"Trucks can't "conserve" gas delivering supplies. "

That is incorrect. You can buy your potatoes from the local farmer or an agro-business 2000 miles away. But many consumers are so cheap that they rather waste 20 cents per pound of groceries on trucking than give the local farmer a little bit of extra income for much higher quality merchandise. Poor choice.

"Why doesn't Pelosi call for Bush to release oil from the USA's strategic oil reserve?"

She did and he said "No". It would not make a difference, anyway. And they both know it.

Anyway, as a driver of a Prius I have to say that life is good. When I bought the car I figured it would return me 5-6% of annual return on investment over the next few years. At this moment it is more like 8%. With gas to go through the $5-6 barrier within a year and a half or so, I would expect that ROI to approach annual 10-12%. That baby will pay for itself.

It is also interesting that so many people here keep calling on the government. Especially the conservative ones who criticize the democrats for wanting big nanny government. Tapping into the SPR IS big nanny government. It IS (attempted, even if futile) market control. It is ALL that conservatives are not supposed to support. Doesn't it blow to be willing to give up core beliefs over something as trivial as the price at the pump?

[Trueheart]

What about all the people who can't afford to buy a hybrid?

[going2ireland]

While I totally agree with you - one thing that is being overlooked. Say markets buy the locally grown produce instead of having it trucked in. Say stores buy their goods from local manufacturers so the need for long haul transporting of those goods is decreased.

What happens then? YOu will find truckers out of work. Thus the economy tanks even more than it already has.

Great thinking, but there is always a dire consequence for ever positive action.

[SpinCycleRadio]

If you listened Pelosi did call for supending adding to the SPR for the time being.

[Daisy1111]

I'm not talkin about "suspension of adding" to it.

They can release oil into the market. IE -- they can sell oil from the strategic oil reserve.

But OIL COMPANIES hate this.

Mark my words - Pelosi wants to be the first woman president.

She probably wants to start a Obama's VP then run in2016.

[ErnestineBass]

Wake up.

BOOOsh is filling the strategic reserve in preparation for the attack on Iran.

[k6007]

I wonder how many of you Bozoes complaining about gas prices are driving around in Detroit supersized gas-guzzling monstrosities.
"High gas prices driving up the cost of food'- lol. I guess so. How much does it cost to ship an apple from.....A­frica?! Maybe you should reconsider those out of season strawberries that are shipped from South America, hey? How about conversion kits? Turn some of those diesel engines into rendered-fat french-fry mobiles. Ooh, I know, how about electric cars for commuters, saving the gas for Airline, and Shipping(until further notice), and the military?
In the meantime, bitch to GM, and drive as less as possible.

[karajan72]

It's not surprising. Nancy Pelosi is in the tank for Obama and she would never say anything that might hurt him. So of course she's going to agree with the Obama campaign. Nancy had better hope Obama gets the nomination, because if Hillary becomes president next year, then Steny Hoyer will be the new Speaker. Pelosi will be OUT and so will Howard Dean at the DNC. Steny Hoyer would make a much better speaker anyway and Howard Dean has made a joke of himself with this Michigan and Florida fiasco.

[metropolitan]

i thin pelosi supports obama because they agree, not that they agree because she supports him.
and even if clinton wins, i don't know if you're aware but the president does not choose the speaker of the house.

[Biracial1]

Southern Maryland ,,,,,,, Charles County

[mntnguy]

Well it is easy to see you support HRC and good for you all have a right to there choices. It is not just Pelosi that has said this it fact there is not one expert in the country that agree with the holiday in fact they have all said it will make the problem much worse! Most have conceded the point that this was obvious pandering by Mc Cain and Hillary useing the bad judgment we know she has in abundance followed him. She often and many of her supporters try to say that Sen Obama has to follow her on everything but in fact he was first to develop and communicate most of his proposals then Sen Clinton followed. In this case she has shown that not only will she say and do anything to win but in the process she is even willing to make the bigger issues far worse by listening to anyone. Her own advisers have told her this is a very bad idea!

Go Obama 08 Yes We Can

[KillTheMessenger]

You mean it is not surprising that Nancy Pelosi calls intellectual cow droppings for what they are? Mrs. Clinton could have avoided this debacle of being portrayed as out of touch with reality if she had not been so desperate to distance herself from Mr. Obama that she had to take on a hopeless position worthy only of Mr. McCain.

What worries me is that so many people can't tell the male cow when they see it. Especially when it is as huge as this one. Wouldn't want to ride this bull in a rodeo, for sure.

[sydney01]

There are absolutely no experts on economy that think the gas tax holiday is a good idea.

The Department of Transportation said it would cost 300,000 jobs.

The American Association of Civil Engineers said it would stress already overburdened and dangerous bridges and roads.

Clinton's plan is simple pandering, that is acutally harmful to citizens.

[going2ireland]

Well, Clinton's strategy to to get the "all for me and none for you" voters all hyped up at the thought that they and they alone will benefit from this. Screw all the people who will be put out of work as a result. Hey I got mine, I don't care about yours!

Believe you me, there are plenty of those suckers out there - I believe they are called Clinton supporters.

[gonavy]

Read between the lines here. The reason our gas prices are going up so quickly is to encourage, strongly encourage, Americans to change their driving habits. This serves several purposes 1. to encourage investment in alternative sources for energy, 2. to protect the environment 3. to reduce our dependence on the Middle East. These are all very good reasons but it is our government who is manipulating the prices, that is clear.

[memoryaid]

you're an idiot.

is the goverment raking in money over the increase in oil prices, or is it the Oil companies and middle eastern countries?

if you want to see where the money is going, it's easy to see. you don't have to "read between the lines"

[gonavy]

and you, my friend, are just classy.

[KillTheMessenger]

Where, again, did you learn reading between the lines? It strikes me as bothersome that so many people in this country dismiss facts for home grown conspiracy theories in an eye-blink. It might just be intellectual laziness, but it still is disturbing. On the other hand, maybe they did NOT teach you in political/social sciences that the purpose of taxation is two-fold: to raise revenues and to effect the behavior of markets and consumers. Maybe they did NOT teach that the government's function in society is to protect the COMMON GOOD against attacks from inside and outside. The environment happens to be a common good and I can think of a lot of people who would be very pissed if the same government they despise for sometimes acting properly would let short term profiteers cut all their forests, poison all their water and then tell them to go and do you know what to themselves.

Fact of life, everyone: nothing in life is for free. You can have the gas tax now or export even more money to Saudi Arabia and Iran and Venezuela later. Your choice. Chose wisely.

[Daisy1111]

Even if Americans drive LESS trucks delivering groceries stil drive the same distance.

At the moment oil prices are raising the cost of food.

A gallon of milk is $5 ... for a single Mom saving $10 a month on gas for 3 months means she can buy two gallons of milk.

Only goes to prove that left leaning democrats are out of touch with the problems of Americas working class.

[ErnestineBass]

Ummmmmmmm.­..you just contradicted yourself, Daisy Mae.

[sydney01]

The government is in debt, but the oil companies are posting record profits.

[gonavy]

So, invest in an energy mutual fund. Ours is doing great. I tell myself that everytime I have to go to the gas station.

[JACKSWADE]

I guess next Hillary will say that she will pay for every ones Summer vacation!!!!!

[NCMan]

I'm wondering why the opponents to the gas tax holiday in one breath say it won't save enough money to make any difference and then in the next breath they contend it will make gas cheap enough so that people would start using more.

These two statements don't make any sense when taken together. It can't be both.

[creo13]

It will cut the price by $.18/gal for a short time. As soon as the market sees the run on the gas stations, the prices will go back up to fend off demand. It will take about two months probably for the prices to go back up. You will have saved ten bucks, and quite possibly risked higher pices than before because of the newer, higher demand and could risk a gas shortage.

[NCMan]

are you saying an .18 lowering in the price would make you run to the gas station and start using more gas than you do now?

That's crazy.

I'm guessing any money someone saves on gas would be put to use trying to pay the higher food prices at the grocery store

[LittleSanityLeft]

Of course they make sense, in one instance you're getting a taxed less because the gas costs less, the other instance you're getting taxed less but the gas costs more.

One is a long term plan the other is a temporary holiday and basically a fantasy.

[memoryaid]

there are two things going on.

demand in the aggregate tends to increase even if the decrease in price is very small. so although you save $5 per month if prices stayed the same, demand could increase by enough to bring the price back up anyway.

the other thing is that past experiences have shown that any price decrease by the elimination of the tax usually results in an increase of the base price, so you might see a 5 cents savings from an 18 c tax reduction, with the rest being pocketed by oil companies.

making oil companies pay higher windfall taxes will only exacerbate that behavior. in truth, Sen. Clinton's plan would probably result in a net increase of oil prices.

[tellinya]

The reason it would raise prices is the perception. Higher demand brings higher prices and oil co. can increase the price and it would significantly affect infrasructure projects. Going after windfall profits is an empty promise due to the power of the oil lobby and the existing congressional environment. gas tax relief is an old school political gimmick used throughout elections.

[Daisy1111]

Exccelnt point NCMan