- McConnell ruled out GOP support for the gas tax cut plan from Democrats.
- He labeled it as "political games" ahead of the midterms.
- Democrats are anxious that worsening inflation will cost them at the ballot box in November.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all but put the nail in the coffin on a new proposal from Democrats anxious about inflation worsening under their watch.
He shot down a gas tax holiday plan on Thursday, assailing it as a fiscally irresponsible election-year stunt. "Democrats want to blow a $20 billion hole in highway funding so they can try to mask the effects of their own liberal policies on working Americans," he said in a floor speech.
"Oh, and just to make the political games transparent, they want this to expire right after the midterms, as soon as the next Congress is sworn in," he said.
McConnell's comments come after a group of politically vulnerable Senate Democrats unveiled a bill to shelve the gas tax through 2022. The measure would suspend the 18.4 cent-per-gallon levy in a bid to provide relief at the pump during a stretch of rising prices for Americans.
But it immediately collided into opposition from Republicans and some Democrats alike, setting up a narrow path to passage. It would need at least 10 GOP senators to cast a vote for it if every Senate Democrat backed it to cross the 60-vote threshold.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters on Tuesday that Democrats hadn't broadly taken a position on it. But he insisted Democrats were gonna attempt to work on measures to cut the cost of prescription drugs and childcare while their sprawling economic plan is stalled out.
"Democrats are the ones laser-focused on showing where we stand and offer solutions that aim squarely at the problem," he said.
But critics on both sides of the aisle expressed concern whether the measure would be effective at cutting costs. "I think it's just a clearly transparent political move to try and give political cover to a handful of Democrats that are up in states this year where gas prices are going to be a big issue," Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota told reporters.
Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia, criticized its potential impact on the deficit.
According to the latest Consumer Price Index report, energy remained the largest contributor to inflation in January, with gas prices up 40% from the previous year. Democrats are anxious that worsening inflation will cost them at the ballot box in November.