John McCain’s proposal for a three-month summer federal gas-tax holiday might be a good way to get votes, but it’s lousy transportation and energy policy. A Wired blog points out that suspending the federal 18.4-cent-per-gallon tax would save the average motorist about $28. But the plan would cost the government $9 billion in lost highway funds and put at risk an estimated 300,000 jobs tied to the funding, according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
This at a time when the Highway Trust Fund, which bankrolls local and state road and bridge projects, is already facing a $3.4 billion deficit.
A McCain spokesman said he would borrow from the general fund to make up the shortfall, but doing that would just add to the federal deficit.
Plus, as energy experts point out, the next president should be encouraging gasoline conservation, not more consumption and carbon emissions.
A statewide smoking ban appears dead for the legislative session, the arguments for business rights and local control having prevailed. But clean-air proponents are calling for it to be a campaign issue. They’re also calling it inevitable. “Ultimately we’ll have a smoking ban, and we’ll have one as soon as a majority of Kansans and elected officials see it in terms of a health question,†predicted state Sen. Pete Brungardt, R-Salina, to Harris News Service.
Since 1998, “just four of Kansas’ U.S. House or Senate races — fewer than one per election cycle — have been decided by margins smaller than 10 percentage points,†observed Harris News Service. Three of them were efforts to unseat Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Lenexa; in the fourth, in 2006, Nancy Boyda upset Rep. Jim Ryun. Will 2008 be different? Hard to say outside of Democrat Boyda’s district, where Ryun and state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins are in a GOP primary fight. “It’s very possible that it could be the most exciting election year in many Kansans’ lifetimes,†said Bob Beatty, an associate professor of political science at Washburn University.
It always has seemed strange that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment regulates hog farms. Now, or rather effective Oct. 1, the Department of Agriculture will inspect restaurants. Public health experts warned that shifting the restaurant responsibility away from KDHE would “set food safety back†in Kansas, but the Senate passed the legislation unanimously, the House approved it 119-4 and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed it. Anybody else wonder if this has something to do with coal?
John McCain’s proposal for a three-month summer federal gas-tax holiday might be a good way to get votes, but it’s lousy transportation and energy policy. A Wired blog points out that suspending the federal 18.4-cent-per-gallon tax would save the average motorist about $28. But the plan would cost the government $9 billion in lost highway funds and put at risk an estimated 300,000 jobs tied to the funding, according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
