(The Center Square) – Republican lawmakers on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee have moved forward their fiscal year 2025 budget proposal, which includes repealing billions of dollars in unobligated climate funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, modernizing air traffic control, and taxing electric vehicle owners.
During an eight-hour markup hearing Wednesday, lawmakers debated a proposed committee budget bill that implements Republicans’ $5.8 trillion budget reconciliation instructions to the committee, namely, to find $10 billion in net savings over the next decade while funding President Donald Trump’s infrastructure wishes.
Transportation and Infrastructure’s plan allocates roughly $22 billion to the U.S. Coast Guard to invest in shoreside maintenance and infrastructure. It also appropriates $15 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration to modernize its traffic control infrastructure, which is currently dangerously outdated, as The Center Square reported.
To offset the costs and reach the $10 billion savings goal — or $1 billion in savings per year — the legislation imposes a $250 annual fee on EV owners and a $100 fee on owners of hybrids. The fees would result in approximately $50 billion in savings over the next 10 years, all of which would go to the Highway Trust Fund.
Committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo., called the annual EV fees a long-overdue “fairness issue” since users of combustion engine vehicles pay into the Highway Trust Fund via gasoline taxes, while EV owners pay nothing.
“For far too long, EVs have operated on our nation’s roads without paying into the system,” Graves told committee members. “It’s time these roadway users pay their share for the use of the road.”
Notably, the committee’s bill repeals seven climate and energy-related programs in the IRA, reducing federal spending by an estimated $4.6 billion.
The grants and programs rescinded include the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grants; the Environmental Review Implementation Funds program; the Low-Carbon Transportation Materials Grants; the Assistance for Federal Buildings program; the Use of Low-Carbon Materials program; Emerging Technologies funding under the General Services Administration (GSA) program; and the FAA’s Alternative Fuel and Low-Emission Aviation Technology Program.
“Today the Committee took decisive action in support of the President’s America First agenda,” Graves said following the final vote. “I want to thank the Members of the Committee for their efforts throughout today’s markup.”
