Sam Gibbons: “Mr. Speaker, this is political pandering if I have ever seen it, and I have seen a lot of political pandering in my…”

“Mr. Speaker, this is political pandering if I have ever seen it, and I have seen a lot of political pandering in my life. But this is about as bad as I have ever seen. Mr. Dole needed something to jump start his campaign so he poured a little gasoline on it. Give everybody a tax cut for the user fee that they pay for using the highways of this country. Some of this money does not go into the user fee. I made a motion in the Committee on Ways and Means to put it all in the user fee, and all the Republicans turned it down, Mr. Speaker. So if anybody thinks our highway and transportation infrastructure is in great shape, it is because you have not tried to use it recently. I did this last weekend. It is a mess. It is overcrowded. It is wearing out. Most families, when they are traveling, will pick out the filling stations that have the best rest rooms to stop and buy their gasoline because the prices are so close to each other. They are very cynical. They do not think that the oil companies are going to let them see any of this gasoline tax repeal. I am cynical like that, too, Mr. Speaker. I think this is political pandering at its worst. We ought to vote no.”