By JM Rieger

Amid reports of Republicans being open to increasing the gas tax, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was cautiously supportive of raising the tax to pay for transportation spending while pushing back against a “show-biz” proposal of lowering income taxes in exchange. At her weekly news conference Thursday, Pelosi said the decrease in gasoline prices is already a tax break for consumers. “I do think that if there’s ever going to be an opportunity to raise the gas tax the time when gas prices are so low, oil prices are so low, is the time to do it,” Pelosi said. The tax, which has not been raised since 1993, provides most of the funding for the Highway Trust Fund.