By Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas denounced Wednesday as reckless the budget proposal offered by Republicans on the House transportation and infrastructure committee.
Davids, who serves on the committee along with GOP U.S. Rep. Tracey Mann of Kansas, said the blueprint went beyond the goal of identifying wasteful government spending and amounted to a “direct attack on the people that we are here to serve.”
“I have always said I will work with anyone — Republican or Democrat — when it’s good for Kansans,” Davids said. “And, while it might seem difficult right now, I know and I believe that there is still room for common ground. But this partisan budget plan that we’re talking about today? It’s not just reckless. It is cruel.”
“We can improve government efficiency. We can reduce waste, fraud and abuse. But what we shouldn’t do is rush through chaotic policies that will raise costs for hard-working Kansans,” she said.
Davids, the lone Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation, said President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress were “pushing massive tax giveaways for billionaires instead of offering real help to the folks who need it most.”
The president seeks extension of 2017 federal tax cuts that would increase federal deficits by approximately $4 trillion during the coming decade.
“In recent months,” Davids said, “we have all seen the chaos, and simply put, we’re exhausted. This is not how the federal government should work. The dysfunction isn’t just noise — it’s hitting people where it hurts. What we’ve seen from the administration and in this budget is not strategic. It’s reckless.”
In a statement, Mann said the objective of the transportation and infrastructure committee was to add detail to a House budget package that bolstered Trump’s border and national security agenda, shelved energy policies advanced by President Joe Biden and addressed wasteful spending. This slice of the budget should also allow for investment in modernizing the nation’s air traffic control system, he said.
“Later this week, the House will vote to repeal more Biden-era rules and regulations that harm American consumers,” Mann said. “America needs an all-of-the-above energy strategy — not a one-size-fits-California mandate.”
During the House committee’s deliberations Wednesday, GOP leadership’s recommendation to set a federal vehicle registration tax was amended in wake of bipartisan opposition. Originally, the legislation required U.S. owners of an electric vehicle to pay $200 annually, owners of a hybrid vehicle to pay $100 annually and owners of other vehicles to pay $20 annually to support federal highway programs.
It was amended by the committee to set the tax on electric vehicles at $250 per year, leave the hybrid vehicle assessment at $100 annually and eliminate the proposed fee on other vehicles.
The federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon has generated insufficient revenue for the highway trust fund as engines became more efficient and battery-powered vehicle sales escalated. The federal gas tax hasn’t been adjusted for inflation since the mid-1990s.
