increase the gas tax to pay for more transportation. more of these big transportation programs. currently it s about 18.4 cents a gallon. he wants to tack on more. paul ryan says no. what do you say to that? i think congress is continuing to struggle with how to pay for this. i don t think there s wide political support for a gas tax increase in congress be based on conversation i ve had. but i think the congressman from oregon is right on point to try to push for a bigger bill. so that we have the resources in place to get america moving. how it s paid for is a different question. well, that is the question. if it s not going to be the gas tax, and you want something big ticket, do you have another idea how to pay for it? we have had an idea and we were working with then chairman of the house ways and means committee paul ryan on an international tax reform idea that would have brought back proceeds from overseas, that corporations are holding over
vice president joe biden, take a look at this about an hour or so ago, he s the president of the u.s. senate. he was swearing in the new members these are actually live pictures right now. he s taking photographs with some of the newly elected and reelected senators, their family members, joe biden, part of the job. he s the vice president of the united states but he s the president of the senate. so he swore in a whole bunch of newly elected senators and reelected senators. you see senator orrin hatch joining the festivities there. that s going on right now. as gas prices drop at the pump the u.s. federal gas tax could be rising. the last time that happened that was back in 1993. back then bass prices for as low as $1.09 a gallon. i was cnn s senior white house correspondent at the time. i remember president bill clinton signed that into law that brought the total tax to 18.4 cents per gallon at the
business correspondent and the anchor of bulls and bears. so hi, brenda. happy new year to you. to you as well. tell us what this tax is what it does, how it all works. break it down. well, the federal gas tax is as you said, 18.4 cents. that s across the country. it hasn t been raised since 1993. so a lot of people are saying, well, it s time to raise it because gas prices have come down so far. this is very important that that senator is giving some wiggle room to an increase in the gas tax because essentially the republicans are against any tax increases. so that means it may be very likely that your gas prices are going to go up. so regardless of all this fuel that s out there we ve got and these great low prices at the pump too bad for us. it s very controversial. look, if the federal highway trust fund runs out of money in
the boat was carrying cement to a port near liverpool. officials say they did not receive a distress signal. they also say there was bad weather in the area and that storm-force winds continue to make things difficult there. and the new gop congressional leadership not ruling out raising the gas tax in order to keep the highway trust fund afloat. senator john thune, the incoming chair of the commerce, science, and transportation committing telling fox news sunday, he does not favor raising any tax but we have to look at all the options. we obviously have a big delta we have to meet. the highway bill expires at the end of may. and there s about $100 billion shortfall over what it would take to fund the highway trust fund at the current level of operations. well, the federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon. the diesel tax is 24.4 cents per gallon. let s bring in bren that buttner now, our fox news senior
while our lawmakers try to sort this out is really going to be damping. well it is 1/6 s our economy. we have to remind folks of that. can t do it without it affecting things dramatically. carrie, a personal experience you brought to us a couple weeks ago. what s happening with your personal experience with obamacare? changed, improved? horrible. i did not get to keep my doctor, period, when i shifted on to the plan. my doctor did not accept it. my premium hiked up bein 18.4%. rick is doing amazing gymnastics. see a chiropractor this year? what did i say that s not true? i used the figure talking double digits, not to mentio versus the future. future, a disaster. the natural progression of obamacare is single parent. what liberals want. what obama wants. a disaster for deficits s the new congress were hopefully shrink the deficit in the future. also constitutional questions