Your June 23 Pre-Trip: Congress unlikely to approve gas tax hike this year

June 23, 2015

Here are five things worth knowing today: 1. House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy said a gas tax increase is unlikely to be approved by Congress this year, The Hill reports. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that the “reality of politics makes raising the gas tax unlikely” and that it would be difficult to come up with a funding source to pay for five years of highway funding, according to the report. A gas tax increase, according to many transportation advocates, would help pay for an extension of infrastructure funding that is scheduled to expire July 31. The gas tax, currently at 18.4 cents, has not been increased since 1993, and improvements in auto fuel efficiency have made it nearly impossible to sustain funding.2. Truck drivers in New Orleans are fed up with being forced to transport damaged goods coming into the New Orleans port, WDSU News reports. Drivers protested at the port on Monday, saying that the problem has been going on since Hurricane Katrina. According to the report, rather than having a dedicated area to handle damaged boxes near the unloading zone, truckers have to carry the boxes to a separate location for inspection, then off to another location for storage. One trucker told WDSU that this process takes several hours that the drivers aren’t paid for. 3. The owner of Kelley Trucking in Colorado owes his employees his life. According to Go By Truck, when owner John Kelley was working on a bid, he suddenly felt lightheaded. He then gasped for air and slid back in his chair, the report said. Someone called 911, Kelley’s son helped him to the floor, and another employee retrieved the automated external defibrillator and alerted the rest of Kelley’s family. According to the report, company employees had just completed CPR training sessions in April, so they knew exactly how to act. Now Kelley is urging other companies to do the same. 4. After thieves in North Fort Worth, TX, tried to steal a tractor-trailer from a residential driveway, the owner of the truck is taking matters into his own hands, according to CBS Local. According to the report, a week prior, the family reported they heard knocking on the door and someone “juggling” the doorknob in the early hours of the morning. The family’s neighbors also said their Ford F-350 had been stolen twice from their driveway last summer. Now, the owner of the large truck is sleeping inside his tractor-trailer, accompanied by his 9-millimeter, CBS said. 5. A truck driver who allegedly crashed his tractor-trailer into a post office in Bradford, VT, told police he was not aware he hit the building, according to a report in the Republican American. Police said the post office sustained moderate damage after being hit late Saturday night. According to the report, the damage wasn’t discovered until Sunday morning.

About the Author

Cristina Commendatore

Cristina Commendatore was previously the Editor-in-chief of FleetOwner magazine. She reported on the transportation industry since 2015, covering topics such as business operational challenges, driver and technician shortages, truck safety, and new vehicle technologies. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut.