Trump Backs Gas Tax Holiday

Good evening. The Supreme Court's conservative majority just handed down a ruling allowing Alabama to use a contested congressional map that will likely eliminate a district held by a Black Democrat. Here's what else is happening.

Trump Says He Supports Suspending Federal Gas Tax 'for a Period of Time'

With the national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline at $4.52, President Trump told reporters Monday that he supports a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax.

The tax, 18.4 cents a gallon for gasoline and 24.4 cents a gallon on diesel fuel, generates more than $23 billion a year - money that goes to federal highway and public transit programs. Drivers wouldn't be saving much compared to the $1.54-a-gallon increase in the national average price of gas since the start of the war with Iran - a roughly 52% rise, based on data from AAA.

"It's a small percentage," Trump said Monday, "but it's still money."

Trump's comments come just days after the White House told Axios that a suspension was "not currently under consideration."

It's up to Congress: Suspending the tax would require an act of Congress, where lawmakers in both parties have expressed support for the idea as a way to address affordability concerns and voter anger ahead of the midterm elections.

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri quickly announced that he is introducing legislation to suspend the tax. On the House side, Republican Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Jeff Van Drew said they would introduce bills this week. "My bill would completely suspend the federal fuel taxes for 18 months, so people are no longer paying those extra taxes per gallon every time they fill up their tank," Van Drew said in a statement.

Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Mark Kelly of Arizona introduced their own bill, the Gas Prices Relief Act, in March. It would suspend the federal gas tax through October 1 and would require the Treasury Department to transfer money from its general fund to the Highway Trust Fund to offset any lost revenue. Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire introduced a House version of the bill. He responded to Trump's comments in a post on X: "This should have happened months ago," he wrote, calling for Congress to pass his bill this week.

Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania has proposed legislation to suspend the federal gas tax whenever prices rise above $4 a gallon. Boyle's plan would offset lost revenue by redirecting subsidies for oil and gas companies.

Several states have also announced gas tax holidays or are considering suspensions of their state fuel taxes.

Some lawmakers have expressed concerns about the potential fiscal consequences of a gas tax holiday. "Obviously, any time you suspend the gas tax, that leaves a big hole in the Highway Trust Fund, which also has implications down the road," Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly said Monday. Thune told reporters he'd prefer to see the Strait of Hormuz reopened to "normalize" gas prices without legislation but said he's willing to listen to colleagues who back a tax break.

What a gas tax holiday might cost: The Bipartisan Policy Center think tank estimated last month that a five-month gas tax holiday would reduce gas tax revenue by about $17 billion, or 46% of projected gas and diesel tax revenue to the Highway Trust Fund for fiscal year 2026.

"A suspension would provide modest, temporary relief to consumers at the pump, but in doing so, would blow another hole in the federal deficit and further strain the user-pay, user-benefit system of the [Highway Trust Fund]," the BPC report concluded.

That analysis also found that consumers wouldn't get the full benefit of the tax holiday. It projected that prices at the pump would fall by 10 cents to 16 cents a gallon, with the rest going to suppliers.

Trump says prices will come down: When asked how long a suspension he would support, Trump didn't provide a timeframe, saying only "until it's appropriate." He also left the timing open in an interview Monday with CBS News: "We're going to take off the gas tax for a period of time, and when gas goes down, we'll let it phase back in," he said.

The president also reiterated his prediction that gas prices would plummet once the war ends. "Let me tell you, as soon as this is over with Iran, as soon as it's over, you're going to see gasoline and oil drop like a rock," he said.

There's still no clear end to the conflict in sight, though. Trump on Sunday rejected the latest Iranian response to a U.S. proposal as "totally unacceptable!"

Senators Dig In for Fight Over $1 Billion in Ballroom Funding

Congressional lawmakers return this week with Republicans aiming to move ahead with their $72 billion party-line reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement and Border Patrol. That GOP plan also proposes to spend $1 billion on security related to President Trump's White House ballroom project, which will also be at the center of the political fight this month. Senate Republicans defended the cost. Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that the total reflects "what it costs to protect the President of the United States in a very dangerous time and a dangerous world."

"Keeping the leader of the free world safe is an expensive proposition," he said.

Democrats vowed to fight the reconciliation plan, objecting to the lack of reforms to immigration enforcement and to the ballroom money.

"At a time when Americans can't make ends meet, Republicans say 'Let them eat cake' - and then hand Trump a billion dollars to build a ballroom to serve it in," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a letter to colleagues Monday. "That is what today's Republicans have become: Ballroom Republicans - asking working families to pay the price while Donald Trump pockets the perks."

Trump to Lower Tariffs on Beef Imports

Faced with record-high prices for steak and ground beef, the Trump administration said Monday that it plans to reduce tariffs on imported beef products.

Beef prices have risen about 20% since Trump took office and have been one of the key drivers of headline inflation, which continues to run above the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate. Over the past five years, beef prices are up about 40%.

Trump's executive order reportedly would suspend the annual tariff-rate quota - a two-tier system that charges a higher tariff rate on imported goods from a specific country once a certain threshold has been reached, for the purpose of protecting domestic industries by limiting overall import volumes.

In an example provided by The Wall Street Journal, Brazil can export 65,000 tons per year to the United States tariff-free. But Brazil, which is now the largest beef exporter in the world, hit that limit in the first month of the year, which means all additional beef imports from Brazil since that time have been hit with a 26% tariff.

The sums involved are not trivial, the Journal noted: In 2025, Brazil beef shipments to the United States had a value of $1.75 billion, a record.

Overall, Americans consume about 29 billion pounds of beef per year, 20% of which is imported. In 2026, beef imports are expected to hit a record 6 billion pounds.

Boosting herds: Trump is expected to sign a second executive order addressing another cause of high beef prices: the shrinking U.S. cattle herd. Struggling with drought and rising production costs, beef producers have reduced the size of the U.S. herd to the lowest level in 75 years, even as consumer demand has remained strong, driving up prices.

The White House has not provided details on how it plans to boost the national cattle herd, but the Journal says that Trump is expected to direct the Small Business Administration to make loans available to ranchers; reduce federal protections for cattle-killing wolves covered by the Endangered Species Act; and ease regulations on cattle herd management.

Whatever the details, experts say rebuilding the herd will take time. "The fact of the matter is there's really nothing anybody can do to change this very quickly," Derrell Peel, a professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University, told Fox News. "We're in a tight supply situation that took several years to develop, and it'll take several years to get out of it."

Questions about viability: It's not clear how much of an impact the White House's moves could have on beef prices, and some critics say the administration is barking up the wrong tree. Farm Action, a progressive group that advocates for limits on corporate control in agriculture, said the administration's approach has failed in the past.

"Previous import expansions from Argentina did not meaningfully reduce beef prices because the real problem is a highly consolidated meatpacking sector controlled by just a handful of dominant corporations," Farm Action Research and Policy Director Sarah Carden said in a statement. "Expanding imports into a rigged and consolidated market will not lower prices for consumers or create a fairer market for ranchers. What it will do is strengthen multinational meatpackers ... while putting renewed pressure on independent U.S. cattle ranchers, who are finally beginning to recover after years of being in a deficit."

Reflecting Pool Repair Cost Soars to $13.1 Million

Last month, President Trump said he wanted to use his "pool guy" to repair the famous Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, claiming it would take just $1.8 million to fix leaks and paint the underwater surface a shade described as "American flag blue."

"I have a guy who's unbelievable at doing swimming pools up the road," Trump told reporters at the White House last month.

The no-bid contract that was issued soon thereafter to a Virginia company called Atlantic Industrial Coatings was for $6.9 million, and the administration claimed that it was issued in such a hurry because the situation was so serious that it could result in harm to the government.

On Monday, we learned that the price tag has soared to $13.1 million, after the Interior Department added $6.2 million to the contract late last week. No detailed explanation has been provided for why the cost has jumped so much, but according to The New York Times, a spokesperson for the Interior Department said that the new price reflects an expedited schedule that aims to complete the project before the nation's 250th anniversary celebration this summer.

Lawsuit filed: A nonprofit group called The Cultural Landscape Foundation filed suit on Monday to halt the project. The foundation says the Trump administration is ignoring laws that require the Interior Department to notify the public of its plans, to gather input from other federal agencies, and to assess the project's environmental impact.

"Defendants' failure to follow the law before inserting a permanent blemish on the National Mall is causing serious and irreparable harm to the Plaintiffs and the public generally," the lawsuit says. "Without immediate judicial intervention, defendants will deface an iconic American landmark, in open violation of Congressionally mandated procedures."

Charles A. Birnbaum, the foundation's president, said in a statement that the reflecting pool is an integrative element in the overall design of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, and the new color will alter an intentional design. "A blue-tinted basin is more appropriate to a resort or theme park," he said.

Fiscal News Roundup

• Trump Weighs Military Action Against Iran With Ceasefire 'on Life Support' – Axios
• Trump Says He'll Move to Suspend Federal Gasoline Tax. He Can't Do It on His Own – Associated Press
• Trump Wants a Gas Tax Holiday. Republicans Will 'Hear Him Out,' Thune Says – Politico
• Gas Tax Holiday Momentum Grows With Trump Support – Politico
• Democrats Propose Federal Gas Tax Holiday as Pump Prices Soar – Bloomberg Government
• Trump Clears Way for More Beef Imports, Aiming to Bring Down Record-High Prices – Wall Street Journal
• US Navy Faces Rising Costs for Hormuz Missions With Strait Still Blocked – Bloomberg
• Democrats Vow to Fight $1 Billion Senate Security Proposal for White House Ballroom – Associated Press
• Thune Defends $1B for White House Security as 'What It Costs' to Protect the President – Associated Press
• Reflecting Pool Repairs to Cost $13.1 Million. Trump Had Promised $1.8 Million – New York Times
• Group Sues to Block Trump's Blue Resurfacing of Reflecting Pool at Lincoln Memorial – CBS News
• Neal Plans Broad Tax Agenda if House Control Changes – Politico
• Hungry Children, Canceled Benefits: Arizona's Food Stamp Cuts Are a Warning for America – NBC
• Scientists Press Congress on Trump's Dismissal of Funding Agency Board – New York Times
• China Expanding Its Industrial Dominance, Warns US Business Group – Financial Times

Views and Analysis

• Pausing Federal Gas Tax Would Bring Little Relief to Gas Prices, Experts Say – Andrea Riquier, USA Today
• The Federal Gas Tax Is on Trump's Hit List. Data Shows How Much Would Be Saved Without It – Joe Murphy and Jiachuan Wu, NBC News
• What Trump's Gas Tax Plan Says About the War With Iran – Nancy Cook, Bloomberg
• Higher Gas Prices Are Seeping Into the Produce Aisle – Owen Tucker-Smith, Wall Street Journal
• Why Are Oil Prices Not Higher? – Bryce Elder, Financial Times
• A Weakened Trump Arrives at Xi's Court – Gideon Rachman, Financial Times
• Xi Is Cooking Up Something Special for Trump – Jessica Karl, Bloomberg
• The Stakes of the Trump-Xi Summit – Wall Street Journal Editorial Board
• Private Equity's New Tax Fight – Andrew Ross Sorkin et al, New York Times
• Debt Disaster Denialists Think America Has a New Magic Bullet – Mitch Daniels, Washington Post
• Wealth Taxes Are Rich in Appeal, Poor in Practice – Tobin Harshaw, Bloomberg
• This Is the Cost of Congress 'Under' Trump – Fred P. Hochberg, Washington Post
• Trump's Pick to Remake the Federal Reserve First Has to Tackle Rising Prices – Andrew Ackerman, Washington Post
• The U.S. Military Needs Another Revolution – Rahm Emanuel, Wall Street Journal
• Obamacare Subsidies: Are Republicans More Stupid Than They Are Cruel? – Michael Tomasky, New Republic
• 'Bill Cassidy Sold His Soul to the Devil, and He Didn't Get Anything for It' – Gary Sernovitz, New York Times