Mileage Tax Gaining Speed in Congress

By Rob Hotakainen | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Despite opposition from the White House , a proposal to tax motorists on the number of miles they drive each year is gathering speed on Capitol Hill .

Its popularity is increasing as Congress searches for alternatives to the federal gasoline tax, which isn’t indexed to inflation and hasn’t been raised since 1993.

Supporters say that a mileage tax would be a more reliable source of funding for the upkeep of the nation’s roads and bridges. Many environmentalists endorse it, saying that it would lead to less driving and less pollution.

However, the proposal is raising privacy concerns — particularly if GPS devices were to monitor mileage — and opponents say that the last thing people need is a new tax, particularly in the middle of a recession. Some critics, moreover, fear that it would have a disproportionate impact in states such as California , which has longer-than-average commutes …

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Obama’s Proposes Up to $750 Billion More for Bank Aid

By Roger Runningen and Brian Faler | Bloomberg.com

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama’s first budget request would provide as much as $750 billion in new aid to the financial industry, as well as overhaul the U.S. health-care system and launch a program to cut carbon-dioxide emissions.

The spending blueprint, being sent to Congress today, anticipates the government will run a deficit totaling $1.75 trillion in the year ending Sept. 30, equivalent to about 12 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. Obama has promised to cut the shortfall — the biggest since World War II – - in half by the end of his first term.

“It’s only by restoring fiscal discipline” that the U.S. can produce growth and prosperity “over the long run,” Obama said during remarks this morning. “That means cutting what we don’t need” to pay for necessary programs.

Obama pledged that his administration will “go through our books page by page, line by line” to cut wasteful or inefficient spending, and said officials have already found $2 trillion in deficit reduction …

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Environmentalists Press Democrats With ‘Non-Negotiable Demands’

By Laura Litvan and Catherine Dodge | Bloomberg.com

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — Environmental groups are racking up a series of early wins thanks to expanded Democratic majorities in the U.S. Congress. But they aren’t satisfied, and the scope of their agenda may cause headaches for party leaders.

Environmentalists want Congress to cap greenhouse-gas emissions, a proposal meeting resistance from companies such as General Motors Corp. because of its cost. They’re pushing for laws to force public utilities to buy 15 percent of their power from renewable energy sources, an idea opposed by Southern Co. and American Electric Power Co. And they want tougher energy-efficiency standards for cars, buildings and appliances.

“They have high expectations and non-negotiable demands,” James Lucier, an energy analyst at Capital Alpha Partners LLC in Washington, said of the groups, which include the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and the League of Conservation Voters.

The tension will soon become apparent. More than 2,000 protesters are planning a March 2 sit-in at a coal-fired plant that produces power for the U.S. Capitol, as part of a drive to get support for climate-change legislation.

While organizations such as the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth are leading the charge, some new, more left-leaning partners are joining the fray.

The antiwar group Code Pink is training some of its ire on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat …

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Obama Targets Greenhouse Gases, Fuel Efficiency

By BEN FELLER | Associated Press

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama took aim Monday at the lofty but long elusive goal of making the nation more energy independent, ordering reviews that could lead to tougher auto emission standards in states and higher pressure on automakers to produce more fuel-efficient cars.

Attacking a Bush administration policy, Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency to re-examine whether California and other states should be allowed to have tougher auto emission standards to combat a build up of greenhouse gases.

Obama also directed his administration to get moving on new fuel-efficiency guidelines for the auto industry in time to cover 2011 model-year cars.

“For the sake of our security, our economy and our planet, we must have the courage and commitment to change,” Obama said in his first formal event in the ornate East Room of the White House …

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