Lawmakers in Congress face a deadline next month to pass legislation funding the nation's highway system.
The current law will expire at the end of May.
Stephen Koranda reports, Republican Kansas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins says one solution is off the table.
Jenkins says Republican leaders in the U.S. House probably won’t consider a hike in the gas tax.
Some other proposals would change tax rules for overseas corporate profits and earmark that money as a highway funding stream. But Jenkins isn’t entire on board with that idea.
“I’m not a huge fan of that because we are looking at comprehensive, fundamental tax reform and we had kind of reserved those funds for that,” says Jenkins.
Jenkins says Congress may push the deadline while trying to find a federal Highway Fund compromise. “It may come down to the wire, as usual. That’s when most of the hard negotiation is done,” says Jenkins.
The current tax, 18 cents per gallon, hasn’t been raised since 1993 and it’s falling short of funding needed projects.
