News of the GOP's rejection of a gas tax increase comes from reports on two recent private meetings between Republican leaders and the Trump Administration.

for The Washington Post on
The discussions underscore the difficulty Trump faces as he seeks to finance his 2016 campaign promise of a $1 trillion national infrastructure upgrade...The White House is expected to release an infrastructure plan as soon as this month, but that plan is not expected to dictate how the projects would be paid for..
White House officials said they still have not made a final determination as to whether they will pursue an increase in the gas tax, even though GOP leaders have made clear an increase will not have enough Republican support to become law.
Nor should Trump expect help from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who told the Daily Beast that he opposes hiking the gas tax to finance the president's infrastructure plan, reported Sam Stein on Nov. 23, 2017.
“The bottom line is that we don’t want to raise taxes on working people right now,” Schumer said. “As it stands now that is where we are at. Income distribution is so bad, I would rather pay for infrastructure by taking the money that comes from overseas [repatriation] and putting it into infrastructure.”
Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who now serves as co-chair of Building America’s Future, a bipartisan coalition dedicated to infrastructure investment, called Schumer’s remarks shortsighted.
Not entirely ruled out
White House aides have said the president’s broader infrastructure plan would be designed with $200 billion in federal funding and rely on states, localities, or private investors to cover the remaining $800 billion, but Trump has waffled on this, saying he doesn’t believe partnerships between the federal government and private investors would work.
And states will need to be careful on how they finance their share of infrastructure projects, as illustrated by the administration's threatened rejection of the all-important Hudson River rail tunnel project due to New York's and New Jersey's reliance on borrowing from the federal government.
Opposition to increasing gas tax not shared by GOP governors and state legislatures.
Last year, eight states increased their gas taxes, most of which had GOP governors and/or GOP-controlled state legislatures:
California, Tennessee, Montana, Indiana, South Carolina (overriding a governor's veto), Utah (more of an adjustment), West Virginia and Oregon.
However, it was an odd-numbered year; don't count on many this year.
Hat tip to AASHTO Daily Transportation Update.
FULL STORY: GOP leaders reject gas tax increase after Trump floats the idea

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