Tennessee’s Bob Corker Plays Dealmaker In Restoring Highway Trust Fund

Corker says he discussed his plan to raise the gas tax with Tennessee transportation officials. The federal gas tax-18.4 cents per gallon-has not increased since 1993 Image: Office of Sen. Bob Corker

Tennessee’s Bob Corker is once again casting himself as a Washington dealmaker. This time, the Republican Senator is touting a bipartisan plan to refill the federal highway trust fund, which is set to run out of money by the end of the year.

The plan, put forward by Corker and Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy, would replenish the fund by raising the federal gas tax six cents a year for the next two years, and then tie the tax to inflation. But Corker knows most of his fellow GOP lawmakers won’t vote for a tax increase. So, he wants to make his plan more palatable by making some existing tax deductions permanent, like teachers buying classroom supplies, which has to be renewed every year.

On a conference call with Tennessee reporters Wednesday, Corker acknowledged he crafted the plan so that the Congressional Budget Office won’t score it as a tax increase. Corker says that’s important, since most Republicans signed conservative activist Grover Norquist’s pledge not to raise taxes.

“The way it scores makes it so people can actually vote for this and not violate the pledge. It may sound to good to be true, but it’s just the way things are scored in Washington DC. “

Corker’s gas tax plan is the latest in a series of proposals he’s put forward to fix the country’s fiscal problems. While his plan to get the government out of the mortgage business earned the backing of the Obama Administration, most haven’t gone far on Capitol Hill.