Barbara Kennelly: “Yes, the gas tax was raised 4.3 cents in 1993, among great pain. The reason this happened was the deficit had got out of…”

“Yes, the gas tax was raised 4.3 cents in 1993, among great pain. The reason this happened was the deficit had got out of control, $290 billion. Three years later it came down to maybe $140 billion, possibly even $125 billion. Fact: This bill is going to pass. Fact: The 4.3 cents is not going to go back to the consumers. The gentleman from California gets incensed. Why do we not believe in the free market? The reason is we have experience. December 31, 1995, just a short time ago, the noncommercial jet fuel tax went down from 21.8 cents to 4.3 cents, four times what we are talking about tonight, down 17.5 cents per gallon. Have we seen any of that? We have not seen 1 penny of reduction. Mr. Speaker, it is a fact that this gas tax is going to be repealed for 7 months. It is a fact that the deficit maybe will not go down as much as it should. It is also a fact that the candidate for President, Mr. Dole, should not use any more of these ideas at this point in time. We should get back to work and be doing what we should be doing, not appealing to the electorate of the Presidential race when we are supposed to be doing congressional work.”