Obama Quote on Gas Tax Suspension Focus of New ARTBA Ad Campaign

What happened: Barack Obama’s words as a 2008 presidential candidate on the folly of suspending the federal gas tax are the focus of a new ARTBA paid social media ad campaign launched March 2.

Why it’s important: Legislation introduced Feb. 9 by six Senate Democrats facing re-election this fall would suspend the 18.4-cents-per-gallon tax through the end of 2022 to address increased pump prices. A companion measure was introduced Feb. 18 by House Democrats. Both bills threaten to unravel the revenue structure and transportation funding levels in the historic Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

In response to a spring 2008 proposal from fellow candidates, Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain, calling for a gas tax holiday, Obama observed: ‘We’re arguing over a gimmick that would save you half a tank of gas over the course of the entire summer so that everyone in Washington can pat themselves on the back and say they did something. Well, let me tell you, this isn’t an idea designed to get you through the summer, it’s designed to get them through an election.’

A June 2020 Transportation Investment Advocacy Center analysis of more than 100 adjustments—increases and decreases—to state gasoline taxes found little, if any, lasting effect on what consumers pay at the pump.

What’s next: The ads on Twitter and Facebook target members of Congress and their staffs inside the D.C. beltway and will run for at least a week.