Latest news with #TransportationandInfrastructureCommittee
Miami Herald
24-05-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Got an EV? You Might Be Paying New Hidden Fees, Thanks to Congress
If you have listened to the evening news this week, you probably would have known that the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" early on Thursday, May 22, right before lawmakers are set to return to their districts. The "beautiful" bill has already drawn a lot of attention due to landmark measures packed into the document, including significant tax reform based on major cuts, Medicaid and SNAP reform, increased immigration spending, and an increase to the national debt ceiling, to name just a few. However, packed into the text of the nearly 1,000-page bill are some measures that will affect American motorists, especially those who seek to free themselves from the crutch of the gas pump. Hidden very deep in the bill's text is an amendment titled Section 10004, or "REGISTRATION FEE ON MOTOR VEHICLES." This amendment states that the federal government will impose annual registration fees of $250 for electric vehicles and $100 for hybrids, which individual states' motor vehicle departments will collect. Lawmakers like Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the chairman of the influential Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said after the bill was passed that such a provision would help fund the Highway Trust Fund, the main source of federal highway funding. He argues that as EV ownership increases and drivers adopt more fuel-efficient cars and hybrids, the gas tax could lose its relevance very quickly. "The bill includes provisions from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to provide historic investments in the United States Coast Guard to strengthen our national and border security, as well as […] ensuring that electric vehicles begin contributing to the Highway Trust Fund," Graves said. The Highway Trust Fund is funded in part through the gas tax, which is reflected in the price of gasoline and diesel fuel. Currently, the gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel, a rate that has not been raised since October 1, 1993. Graves originally tabled this provision in the US House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in late April, where it passed and was added onto the "Big Beautiful Bill" after a 36-30 vote. Graves's proposal in the BBB will impose enforcement responsibility on the states. Specifically, states will be charged 25% on top of the calculated amount of funding they were expected to bring into the Highway Trust Fund if their motor vehicles departments do not collect the respective EV and hybrid fees. "The Administrator shall withhold, from amounts required to be apportioned to any State under section 104(b), an amount equal to 125 percent to the amount required to be remitted under subsection (c)(2)," the bill says. "The Administrator shall withhold the amount on the first day of each fiscal year beginning after September 30, 2026, in which the State does not meet the requirements of subsection (c)." This is not the first time that congressional lawmakers have proposed some sort of "fairness" fee targeted at EV owners. In February 2025, Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) introduced the Fair Sharing of Highways and Roads for Electric Vehicles (Fair SHARE) Act, which would add a $1000 fee to EVs at the time of purchase, aimed at recouping around 10 years' worth of federal gas tax revenue per car. However, it should be noted that this sort of doctrine has already been enforced at the state level. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), 39 states have a special registration fee for EVs to recuperate lost gas tax funding. For example, EV drivers in New Jersey, which has reached nearly 200,000 strong as of December 2024, will have to pay a $250 annual electric vehicle fee in addition to their registration fee. This fee will increase by $10 per year for four years and exceed $290 starting in 2028. New Jersey's yearly EV registration tax proceeds will fund the state's trust fund for transportation projects and NJ Transit. It should be noted that this provision affecting EV and Hybrid drivers is sandwiched in the BBB along with dozens of other amendments affecting critical programs such as Medicaid and SNAP, as well as raising the debt ceiling. According to Politico, several Republican Senators say they'll be making changes to the BBB, as many of the provisions could affect constituents in their states. Politics aside, looking at the numbers, it is easy to see how the shift from traditional to alternative fuels could upend decades-old rules and legislation, especially regarding the gas tax and the Highway Trust Fund. However, finding a straight-line solution will require a lot of time, work, and understanding of EVs and the needs of EV buyers by our leaders. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House committee rejects amendment protecting Scranton-to-NYC train project
Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan supported a proposed amendment that would have added protections for a project to restore passenger rail service between Scranton and New York City — an amendment a GOP-controlled House committee recently rejected. The failure of that and other amendments Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee proposed before the committee approved its budget reconciliation proposal — part of the broader budget reconciliation package Congressional Republicans are pursuing to implement key elements of President Donald Trump's agenda — doesn't derail the local passenger train project. But they would have added safeguards for the long-sought development that, as proposed, would see Amtrak passenger trains run between Scranton and Manhattan's Penn Station with stops in Mount Pocono, East Stroudsburg, Blairstown, Dover, Morristown, Montclair and Newark. Bresnahan, a freshman GOP congressman representing Northeast Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, has voiced strong support for the Scranton-to-NYC train project. He defeated former Democratic U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, one of the rail project's chief local advocates, in November. Bresnahan also was the lone House Republican on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to vote 'yes' on an amendment proposed by U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, a Michigan Democrat, that would have prevented Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy from removing any project from the federal Corridor Identification and Development Program that was included in the program prior to Jan. 20, when Trump took office. The amendment failed by a vote of 35 to 31, with all voting Democrats in favor and all Republicans other than Bresnahan opposed. U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-8, talks about tariffs and other happenings in Washington during the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce Red Carpet Breakfast on Friday April 4, 2025 at Sand Springs in Drums (John Haeger / Staff Photographer) The Scranton-to-NYC project, accepted into the Corridor ID Program in late 2023, was among the first in the nation to advance to the second step of that three-step program designed to identify new, viable passenger train routes. Step two includes the completion of a Service Development Plan for the proposed route and serves as a precursor to the third step, which could deliver potentially hundreds of millions of dollars for rail construction and related work. 'Jobs and our growing economy shouldn't be partisan — which is why I voted with the other side of the aisle on amendments to protect critical Amtrak projects,' Bresnahan said in a statement. 'Like my predecessor, Congressman Matt Cartwright, I am a proud supporter of Amtrak, especially the proposed Scranton to New York City Amtrak line. I will continue to advocate for the return of Amtrak to NEPA, allowing our region to continue its momentum as a growing economic, logistics and tourism powerhouse.' Larry Malski, president of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority and another of the rail project's chief advocates, commended Bresnahan for voting to support the proposed Amtrak corridor and his broader support for the project. He also stressed that the proposed amendment's failure doesn't hamper the project's progress that as of now continues unabated. 'Obviously if it passed … it would be an extra layer of protection,' he said of the Scholten amendment. 'But again, we're very appreciative to Congressman Bresnahan for following through on his commitment to the project.' An Amtrak study released in March 2023 found that restoring passenger rail service between Scranton and the Big Apple would generate $84 million in new economic activity annually, creating jobs on both sides of the Pennsylvania/New Jersey border. If the project comes to fruition, which is possible as early as 2028, it would mark the return of passenger rail service between those cities for the first time since 1970. Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where the GOP has a five-member majority, also voted down a proposed amendment that would require the transportation secretary to issue reports justifying potential rail grant reductions or cancellations before such a reduction or cancellation occurs. Another amendment rejected by the Republican-controlled committee would have appropriated billions in annual funding for Amtrak operations and competitive rail grants for fiscal years 2025 through 2034, among other examples. Those amendments were defeated by voice vote, meaning no roll call vote was taken.
Miami Herald
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
New Federal EV Fee Could Cost Owners More Than Twice the Average Gas Tax
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves, who is also a Congressman representing the 6th District of Missouri, has proposed a federal bill that would require electric vehicle (EV) drivers to pay a yearly registration fee of $250 and hybrid owners to cough up $100 annually, according to Reuters. The suggested annual EV registration fee, which essentially operates as a tax, is based on a Federal Highway Administration estimation that the average American uses about 550 gallons of gas per year, according to InsideEVs. However, the current federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon, which comes out to about $101 when multiplied by 550, so there's a significant discrepancy with the fee for all-electric models, even if you go with the bill's initial suggestion of charging electric car owners $200 yearly. In other words, if the bill passes, EV owners would be paying an annual registration fee more than twice the average gas tax or the equivalent of the $0.184 tax on 1,389 gallons of gasoline. A proposed $20 annual fee for all drivers that was part of the bill was dropped. The bill suggests that the $250 EV and $100 hybrid registration fees would generate around $40 billion over the next decade for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), which pays for a variety of transportation infrastructure projects, Benzinga reports. "By leveraging states' existing registration systems, the bill assesses an annual registration fee of $250 on EVs and $100 on hybrids (which currently pay a lesser share into the HTF) to ensure they pay for their use of the nation's roads and bridges. Together, these new user fees are expected to increase federal revenues by a conservative estimate of more than $38B over 10 years, all of which will be deposited into the HTF," Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves said in an interview with Design News. Consumer Reports notes that seniors, who drive far fewer miles than the average American, would have to pay almost six times the amount of driving the average new car getting 28 MPG. While hybrid owners wouldn't pay as much as EV owners, they would still face an annual fee roughly twice the amount they would pay in federal vehicle gas taxes when driving a less fuel-efficient internal combustion engine (ICE) model. Seniors driving hybrids would have a yearly fee three times that of a gas-powered car. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's bill also includes inflation adjustments for the annual EV and hybrid fee but doesn't include inflation adjustments for ICE vehicles. The committee reviewed the bill on Wednesday before it heads to the House Budget Committee. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is right to consider changes to fuel taxes, which haven't been updated since 1993, considering that funding for the Highway Trust Fund has declined since around 2008. Just in 2024, the fund faced a deficit of $20.6 billion. While fuel tax revenues haven't been keeping pace with the increased adoptions of EVs, the revenues haven't experienced any adjustments for inflation, and EV owners appear to be picking up all the slack. EV drivers will also have to pay this significantly higher $250 fee upfront at registration instead of incrementally, like ICE owners would. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Republicans hit early snags as they start crafting a massive bill for Trump's agenda
WASHINGTON — Republicans are already hitting some snags as they begin the work of crafting a bill for President Donald Trump's sweeping domestic policy agenda. And they haven't even made some of their hardest decisions yet. Fresh off a two-week recess, House committees have begun marking up their respective pieces of the package, which aims to extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts, boost funding for immigration enforcement and the military, and increase the debt ceiling. In their hunt for steep savings to pay for it all, Republicans are starting with some of the lowest-hanging fruit when it comes to spending cuts. But that process has already sparked some skirmishes among Republican lawmakers, offering a preview of the bigger intraparty fights — such as whether slash funding for anti-poverty programs like Medicaid — that are still to come. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., the chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, on Wednesday was forced at the eleventh hour to yank a provision out of his panel's portion of the package that would have created a new $20 annual fee on nearly all passenger vehicles after conservatives revolted. Separately, on the Judiciary Committee, a push by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to codify Trump's proposal of a 'gold card' visa for wealthy foreigners was rejected by conservatives opposed to expanding visa programs. And on the Education and Workforce Committee, Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., on Tuesday pushed through an overhaul of student loan programs that would cut $351 billion in federal spending, drawing criticisms from Democrats. The most contentious part of that overhaul, Walberg said, is a 'risk-sharing' provision that would make colleges, universities and trade schools partially responsible for unpaid student loan balances. 'All the committees are making tough decisions, and we're gonna build this bill,' said Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of conservatives on Capitol Hill. After passing their budget framework for Trump's 'one big beautiful bill' earlier this month, House Republicans are now trying to fill out the details. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he thinks the House can cobble together all the separate pieces and send the package to the Senate by Memorial Day — an ambitious but not impossible deadline. But it means Republican leaders, committee chairpeople and rank-and-file members are now having the politically tricky conversations about how to pay for the bill and what might get cut. And every House Republican's opinion matters in the process because of the party's fragile 220-213 majority. 'Just about every step of the way has been difficult with a small majority,' Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters, adding that he's also had 'a lot' of conversations with senators as well to make sure both chambers are on the same page. Perhaps the trickiest issue Republicans still need to resolve is how to handle potential Medicaid cuts, which vulnerable and moderate Republicans have strongly warned against. The Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the program and is responsible for finding a whopping $880 billion in cuts for the bill, is planning to hold a markup on May 7, but has to finalize its portion of the package. The committee's chairman has been meeting with members from all across the ideological spectrum as they try to find a solution. But even smaller, less innocuous issues can trip up the entire process. The vehicle fee was an example of an issue that unexpectedly blew up at the last minute. Graves, the Transportation Committee chairman, had included the provision in his panel's package to help meet the committee's so-called "reconciliation" instructions, which dictate what each panel is required to cut or allowed to spend. Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., the former chair of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, offered an amendment to kill it as conservatives disparaged it as a 'car tax.' Graves' team checked in with committee members to gauge support for the fee, two Republican sources said, but it became clear there was too much opposition and Graves made the call Tuesday night to pull it from the package. The committee was then forced to find other ways to hit its saving goals. The package will now boost an annual fee for electric vehicles to $250, up from the originally proposed $200, as well as reduce funding for air traffic control modernization to $12.5 billion, down from the initial $15 billion that was proposed. 'EV owners have not been paying anything into the highway trust fund and justifiably, now they will,' said Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, who opposed the $20 passenger car fee. 'I'm very glad there won't be any fees on gasoline driven vehicles whose owners and drivers have already been paying their fair share into the highway trust fund through the federal gasoline tax.' Another GOP spat emerged on the Judiciary Committee over visas. Issa, a senior member of the panel, had hoped to include in Wednesday's committee's markup Trump's idea to sell $5 million gold card visas that would offer immigrants legal permanent residency and a path to citizenship. Issa argued the proposal could bring in at least an additional $150 billion to pay for the bill. But Issa said another member of the panel, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, effectively vetoed the idea. 'I got screwed out of the gold card because a few of our members wouldn't go along with having an expansion of revenue related to visas, EB-5 and H-1,' Issa said in an interview Wednesday. 'The president's point [is] that we should be able to generate revenue by bringing the investors in to invest, and we have a program that brings in very little by comparison. But Chip killed it.' 'I would be voting for reconciliation,' Issa added, 'but I would be disappointed when it's left out.' Roy did not respond to a request for comment. These types of decisions, however, are the easy ones. The hard ones will need to be resolved in the coming days and weeks. On Wednesday afternoon, Johnson hosted a meeting with Republicans from blue states like New York, New Jersey and California who are aggressively pushing to raise the cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction in the package. The House Ways and Means Committee, where that issue will be decided, will likely meet sometime next week. "It was a lively discussion but we're still far away from a deal," Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., said as he left the nearly hourlong SALT meeting. "I want to ensure we make whole as many of our middle class families as possible." On Medicaid, Republicans facing tough re-election fights in the 2026 midterm elections are worried it's not mathematically possible to achieve their spending targets without a steep cut to Medicaid, citing estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Republican leaders have said they only want to target waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system. Leaving a meeting with House Republicans on Wednesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the chair of the Budget Committee, reiterated that the GOP wants to impose work requirements for Medicaid eligibility to raise the revenue needed to fund Trump's agenda. 'The whole idea of using Medicaid to help able-bodied people who could be working, most Americans will say no to,' Graham said. 'Medicaid was designed to help poor people and disabled people … We got a chance to fix it. And if we fail, I think we'll pay a heavy price.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
30-04-2025
- Business
- NBC News
Republicans hit early snags as they start crafting a massive bill for Trump's agenda
WASHINGTON — Republicans are already hitting some snags as they begin the work of crafting a bill for President Donald Trump's sweeping domestic policy agenda. And they haven't even made some of their hardest decisions yet. Fresh off a two-week recess, House committees have begun marking up their respective pieces of the package, which aims to extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts, boost funding for immigration enforcement and the military, and increase the debt ceiling. In their hunt for steep savings to pay for it all, Republicans are starting with some of the lowest-hanging fruit when it comes to spending cuts. But that process has already sparked some skirmishes among Republican lawmakers, offering a preview of the bigger intraparty fights — such as whether slash funding for anti-poverty programs like Medicaid — that are still to come. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., the chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, on Wednesday was forced at the eleventh hour to yank a provision out of his panel's portion of the package that would have created a new $20 annual fee on nearly all passenger vehicles after conservatives revolted. Separately, on the Judiciary Committee, a push by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to codify Trump's proposal of a 'gold card' visa for wealthy foreigners was rejected by conservatives opposed to expanding visa programs. And on the Education and Workforce Committee, Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., on Tuesday pushed through an overhaul of student loan programs that would cut $351 billion in federal spending, drawing criticisms from Democrats. The most contentious part of that overhaul, Walberg said, is a 'risk-sharing' provision that would make colleges, universities and trade schools partially responsible for unpaid student loan balances. 'All the committees are making tough decisions, and we're gonna build this bill,' said Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of conservatives on Capitol Hill. After passing their budget framework for Trump's 'one big beautiful bill' earlier this month, House Republicans are now trying to fill out the details. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he thinks the House can cobble together all the separate pieces and send the package to the Senate by Memorial Day — an ambitious but not impossible deadline. But it means Republican leaders, committee chairpeople and rank-and-file members are now having the politically tricky conversations about how to pay for the bill and what might get cut. And every House Republican's opinion matters in the process because of the party's fragile 220-213 majority. 'Just about every step of the way has been difficult with a small majority,' Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters, adding that he's also had 'a lot' of conversations with senators as well to make sure both chambers are on the same page. Perhaps the trickiest issue Republicans still need to resolve is how to handle potential Medicaid cuts, which vulnerable and moderate Republicans have strongly warned against. The Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the programand is responsible for finding a whopping $880 billion in cuts for the bill, is planning to hold a markup on May 7, but has to finalize its portion of the package. The committee's chairman has been meeting with members from all across the ideological spectrum as they try to find a solution. But even smaller, less innocuous issues can trip up the entire process. The vehicle fee was an example of an issue that unexpectedly blew up at the last minute. Graves, the Transportation Committee chairman, had included the provision in his panel's package to help meet the committee's so-called "reconciliation" instructions, which dictate what each panel is required to cut or allowed to spend. Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., the former chair of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, offered an amendment to kill it as conservatives disparaged it as a 'car tax.' Graves' team checked in with committee members to gauge support for the fee, two Republican sources said, but it became clear there was too much opposition and Graves made the call Tuesday night to pull it from the package. The committee was then forced to find other ways to hit its saving goals. The package will now boost an annual fee for electric vehicles to $250, up from the originally proposed $200, as well as reduce funding for air traffic control modernization to $12.5 billion, down from the initial $15 billion that was proposed. 'EV owners have not been paying anything into the highway trust fund and justifiably, now they will,' said Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, who opposed the $20 passenger car fee. 'I'm very glad there won't be any fees on gasoline driven vehicles whose owners and drivers have already been paying their fair share into the highway trust fund through the federal gasoline tax.' Another GOP spat emerged on the Judiciary Committee over visas. Issa, a senior member of the panel, had hoped to include in Wednesday's committee's markup Trump's idea to sell $5 million gold card visas that would offer immigrants legal permanent residency and a path to citizenship. Issa argued the proposal could bring in at least an additional $150 billion to pay for the bill. But Issa said another member of the panel, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, effectively vetoed the idea. 'I got screwed out of the gold card because a few of our members wouldn't go along with having an expansion of revenue related to visas, EB-5 and H-1,' Issa said in an interview Wednesday. 'The president's point [is] that we should be able to generate revenue by bringing the investors in to invest, and we have a program that brings in very little by comparison. But Chip killed it.' 'I would be voting for reconciliation,' Issa added, 'but I would be disappointed when it's left out.' Roy did not respond to a request for comment. These types of decisions, however, are the easy ones. The hard ones will need to be resolved in the coming days and weeks. On Wednesday afternoon, Johnson hosted a meeting with Republicans from blue states like New York, New Jersey and California who are aggressively pushing to raise the cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction in the package. The House Ways and Means Committee, where that issue will be decided, will likely meet sometime next week. "It was a lively discussion but we're still far away from a deal," Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., said as he left the nearly hourlong SALT meeting. "I want to ensure we make whole as many of our middle class families as possible." On Medicaid, Republicans facing tough re-election fights in the 2026 midterm elections are worried it's not mathematically possible to achieve their spending targets without a steep cut to Medicaid, citing estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Republican leaders have said they only want to target waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system. Leaving a meeting with House Republicans on Wednesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the chair of the Budget Committee, reiterated that the GOP wants to impose work requirements for Medicaid eligibility to raise the revenue needed to fund Trump's agenda. 'The whole idea of using Medicaid to help able-bodied people who could be working, most Americans will say no to,' Graham said. 'Medicaid was designed to help poor people and disabled people … We got a chance to fix it. And if we fail, I think we'll pay a heavy price.'
