Sen. Adam Schiff took his gas-price fight straight to downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, using a news conference to argue that Washington needs to step in as local drivers swallow some of the highest prices in the country. His ask: a short-term pause on the federal gas tax and a new levy on what he calls excessive oil-company profits, with the goal of putting a little more cash back in drivers' wallets.
Schiff cast the package as emergency relief for Angelenos who are watching prices inch down but still flinch every time they pull up to the pump. He said the federal government should temporarily halt the per-gallon federal excise tax while making oil companies "pay their share" through a windfall-profits charge. The senator did not roll out formal bill language at the event, and his office did not immediately release detailed legislative text. As reported by CBS News Los Angeles, Schiff is pushing a combo of a gas-tax holiday and a profits levy aimed squarely at major oil firms.
The backdrop for all this is a price board that still stings. The average cost of a gallon of regular in Los Angeles County slipped to $5.439 on Tuesday, its lowest level since March, but it remains far above what drivers are seeing in much of the rest of the country. That figure comes from regional price trackers and industry groups that follow daily pump data. According to MyNewsLA, the recent declines are part of a weeks-long slide, even though prices are still significantly higher than they were a year ago.
Schiff’s Proposal And Similar Bills In Congress
Schiff's pitch lines up with other efforts already floating around Capitol Hill that would hit pause on the federal gas excise tax, which currently sits at about 18.4 cents per gallon. To keep road and transit money flowing, those plans would attempt to recoup the lost revenue with new taxes on oil-industry windfall profits.
One related effort comes from Rep. Josh Harder, who has introduced a bill that would suspend the federal gas tax through the end of the year. The move reflects how lawmakers from both parties are scrambling to show they are doing something about the price spike, according to Rep. Josh Harder’s office. Proposals like these generally pair short-term tax relief with offsets that are supposed to refill federal highway and transit funds instead of simply draining them.
How Much Would Drivers Actually Save?
Economists and policy analysts are not exactly popping champagne over the gas-tax holiday concept. The federal tax is collected higher up the supply chain, so there is no automatic guarantee that every penny of a tax cut lands with the driver. Wholesalers, retailers, and everyone in between can pocket a slice of the savings.
The Los Angeles Times cites estimates that roughly 72% of a full federal gas-tax suspension might actually reach consumers, which would translate to about 13 cents of the 18.4-cent tax. The outlet also flags a longer-term problem: if that revenue vanishes for a while, the federal Highway Trust Fund and local transit projects could feel the pinch just as they are trying to keep up with repairs and upgrades.
Politics And The Local Timing
Schiff's call lands in the middle of a high-stakes national argument over how far the government should go to blunt the price surge. President Trump has said he supports suspending the federal gas tax, and lawmakers in both parties have floated versions of a pause, according to Axios.
At the same time, California is heading in the other direction on the tax front. The state's automatic gas-tax increase is set to kick in on July 1, adding roughly 2.2 cents to the state excise and keeping California near the top of the national rankings for taxes at the pump, according to FOX 11 Los Angeles. That timing gap between a potential federal tax pause and an automatic state hike helps explain why California officials and activists are throwing multiple ideas at the problem at once.
Schiff said he plans to press his colleagues in Washington to move quickly, but any plan would need broad buy-in from Congress before drivers would see a change on the price board. For now, his proposal adds one more voice to a crowded debate over whether tax holidays and windfall-profit charges can deliver quick relief without blowing a hole in funding for roads and public transit.
