Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) originally slammed a proposal by his Democratic challenger, Presbyterian seminarian and state legislator James Talarico, to lift the federal gas tax in response to Iran-driven fuel inflation, claiming it was "short-sighted," unsustainable, and would blow a hole in the federal budget.
But now President Donald Trump has endorsed that idea himself — leaving Cornyn, who is still an underdog for renomination in the runoff against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and desperate for a Trump endorsement, in an awkward spot.
Talarico has seized on the divide, posting to X on Monday, "President Trump and I agree: we should suspend the federal gas tax. It's time for @JohnCornyn to get on board. Texans need relief."
Texas is one of the largest producers of oil and gas in the United States, and generally enjoys some of the lowest gas prices in the country by virtue of its cities being relatively close to refineries. However, since the Iran war has begun and the Strait of Hormuz has shut down, average Texas gas prices have surged from under $2.80 a gallon for regular last year, to over $4 a gallon now.
Cornyn, under pressure from the surging prices and the fact that his Democratic opponent beat him to the punch on a message the president now backs, is now telling reporters he's open to a gas tax holiday after all.
“Nobody said how we're going to pay for the roads and bridges, and I'd be interested in how they propose to do that," Cornyn told NOTUS' Igor Bobic. "But I think there's a difference between a temporary suspension and a permanent suspension. I don't know exactly what the president has in mind."
"I think a temporary suspension getting through this sort of bumpy time because of uncertainty about energy prices, I could live with that,” he added.
