House Democrats’ $500 Billion Transportation Overhaul Would Require Doubling the Federal Gas Tax

House Democrats are out with a new bill that would reauthorize the federal government’s soon-to-expire surface transportation programs. Their proposal would boost current spending levels, devote a lot more money toward transit and passenger rail, and require a huge gas tax hike to pay for everything.

Last week, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D–Ore.), who chairs the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, released the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation (INVEST) in America Act. The legislation would devote $494 billion over the next five years to the Highway Trust Fund, the main federal spending program for