Trump wants a gas tax holiday. Will Congress get on board?

WASHINGTON – With no end in sight to skyrocketing fuel prices caused by the Iran war, Congress is considering an intervention.

Democrats on Capitol Hill have been clamoring for months for a temporary federal gas tax holiday. Though they introduced legislation to institute one in March, the idea wasn't meaningfully gaining steam – until President Donald Trump abruptly came out in support of it.

"Yeah, I'm going to reduce," he said during a May 11 Oval Office event, adding that he wants to suspend the 18.4-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax until an "appropriate" time.

While there's no clear timeline yet for the potential pause – which still faces considerable hurdles in the Capitol – it could amount to arguably the most meaningful legislative intervention since the war began to ease the pain at the pump facing Americans nationwide.

The proposal highlights a bipartisan hunger to attempt to bring costs down for voters in a midterm election year. And it shows just how concerned Democrats – and even many Republicans – are about the Middle Eastern conflict's still-evolving domestic consequences.

"We should pull every lever that we can," said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri. "We should vote on it ASAP."

Hawley introduced a bill this week to pause both the gas tax and 24.4-cent diesel tax for 90 days. At least one other congressional Republican, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, has also said she'll propose similar legislation in the House of Representatives. Rep. Chris Pappas, a New Hampshire Democrat who first floated the pause earlier this year along with his Senate counterparts, said on X, "This should have happened months ago."

Whether the measures actually gain steam, however, will depend largely on GOP leadership in Congress. Both House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have been cool to the idea: Each has admitted their preferred solution to bringing down fuel costs would instead be to ease tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway in the Middle East responsible for much of the global oil supply.

Still, Thune said his members would "take a look" at the president's request and "hear him out." He cautioned the gas tax goes to an important source: the Highway Trust Fund, which supports highway construction and transit projects across the country.

"I've not in the past been a huge fan of previous attempts," he said on May 12, noting that "circumstances have changed" amid the war. "It's a conversation I think we're willing to have."

In the wake of Trump's blessing, a bipartisan coalition could override leadership concerns. Alarmed at the roughly $4.50-per-gallon current gas cost, congressional Democrats already seem poised to join with Republicans who support a tax-holiday measure, though some have been frustrated by Trump's delay in coming around to the concept.

Talking to reporters in the halls of the Capitol, Sen. Tim Kaine, the lawmaker who's largely been the face of Senate Democrats' opposition to the war, said he had a "better idea" to save Americans money on fuel.

"End this stupid war," he said.

A pre-midterm affordability push

A gas tax pause wasn't Trump's only suggestion in recent days related to cutting Americans' costs. He also came out in support of a widely bipartisan housing reform bill that's been languishing in the House of Representatives after the Senate passed it two months ago. The legislation would cut red tape while mostly banning large institutional investors from competing with traditional buyers for existing single-family homes.

The new affordability push has arrived just six months out from the midterms, the outcome of which will determine whether Trump will keep a friendly Congress come 2027. Republicans, who've pulled ahead in the redistricting wars due to favorable court decisions, have an increasingly better shot at holding onto control of the Capitol, which would allow Trump to pass more significant legislation on his way out the door.

Historic trends still aren't in the GOP's favor, though. The party's biggest issues continue to be two-fold: Trump's plunging poll numbers and widespread cost-of-living concerns. Some Republicans, including West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice, have long been sounding the alarm about the latter.

When Democrats overperformed in a special election last December in Tennessee, Justice was one of the GOP lawmakers calling on his party to take notice. This week, he said he'd support a gas tax holiday – but he indicated it, on its own, may not be drastic enough to make a meaningful difference in many Americans' lives.

"In some ways, it's like taking an aspirin for cancer," he said.

Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.