May 3, 2008 12:34 pm US/Central
Obama: Gas Tax Holiday Would Save 'Pennies'
'Temporary' Solution Does Little To Address Energy Crisis, Obama Says
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (AP) ―
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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama addresses supporters at a rally April 22, 2008 in Evansville, Ind. (File)
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Sen. Barack Obama said Friday a summertime suspension of the federal gasoline tax could cost 6,000 jobs in next week's primary state of Indiana, and accused Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain of "reading from the same political playbook" by endorsing it.
"This is a plan that would save you pennies a day for the summer months. That is unless gas prices are raised to fill in the gap," the Democratic presidential contender said. "That's what happened in Illinois when we tried this a few years ago," he said.
"Meanwhile, unless you can magically impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies overnight to pay for the holiday, it could imperil federal highway funding, and cost Indiana more than 6,000 jobs," he said.
Money from the tax goes into a fund that pays for highway and bridge construction.
The proposed federal gas tax holiday is a rarity in the marathon battle for the Democratic presidential nomination -- a clear-cut policy difference between Obama and Clinton -- and it is playing out in the final days of primary campaigns in Indiana and North Carolina.
Obama also said that Clinton's own campaign strategists had told her the gas tax would do little to ease the pain at the pump, but would be a good political move. He said the only representative she could find to speak in favor of the proposal was a Shell Oil representative.
Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for McCain, the certain Republican presidential nominee, criticized Obama's stance.
"Barack Obama has absolutely no plan to fight record gas prices this summer, and only he'd be talking about a political playbook when the real issue is hurting American families and their pocketbooks," he said.
Obama once supported a temporary lifting of the tax while in the Illinois legislature, but has since said it does not make sense.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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