Congress quietly cuts highway funding to subsidize truck makers
H.R. 2424 — Modern, Clean, and Safe Trucks Act of 2025 · Filed by Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) · 15 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 27, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill repeals the 12% federal excise tax on new heavy trucks, tractors, and trailers—currently the highest ad valorem excise tax rate in the federal code. The bill's stated rationale is that the tax inflates purchase prices by $7,000–$50,000 per vehicle, discourages fleet modernization, and disproportionately burdens electric and alternative-fuel trucks. Repealing it would theoretically accelerate replacement of older, dirtier vehicles with newer, cleaner models and reduce Highway Trust Fund revenue volatility.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is straightforward: strike the 12% excise tax on heavy trucks from the Internal Revenue Code. However, the framing as 'Modern, Clean, and Safe Trucks Act' wraps a direct tax cut for truck manufacturers and fleet operators in environmental and safety language. The findings cite legitimate environmental gains from newer trucks, but the bill does not mandate or incentivize those gains—it simply removes the tax, allowing the full benefit to accrue to industry.
What the text implies
- Highway Trust Fund revenue will decline by an estimated $1–2 billion annually (based on historical excise tax receipts), forcing either reduced highway maintenance/construction or reallocation from other federal programs.
- The tax repeal benefits large fleet operators and truck manufacturers disproportionately; owner-operators and small carriers may see only partial pass-through of savings.
- The bill's environmental framing assumes fleet modernization will occur, but provides no mandate or incentive—the tax cut alone does not guarantee older trucks are retired or replaced.
- Conforming amendments to tire excise tax definitions (Section 4072) appear technical but may narrow the scope of taxable tires, creating additional revenue loss not quantified in the bill.
- The effective date ('date of introduction') is unusually early and may create retroactive or transition complications for sales already in progress.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill eliminates a dedicated revenue source for highway infrastructure without identifying a replacement funding mechanism, shifting the burden to general revenues or reducing highway investment. While the stated environmental and safety benefits of fleet modernization are real, the tax repeal is a direct subsidy to truck manufacturers and fleet operators—primarily large commercial interests—with no offsetting public benefit or revenue replacement specified. Citizens bear the cost through eit
Who stands to gain
- Heavy-duty truck manufacturers (Volvo, Daimler, Paccar, Navistar)
- Trailer manufacturers
- Large fleet operators and logistics companies
- Truck dealers
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Chapter 31 (Excise Taxes), Subchapter C (Heavy Trucks and Trailers), Highway Trust Fund, Class 8 trucks, JBHT (J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.), Volvo Group, Daimler Trucks, Paccar Inc., Navistar International
Where it stands
15 cosponsors: 10 Republicans, 5 Democrats.
- Mar 27, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 27, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
13 lobbying clients named this bill on 19 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $7,346,290 in lobbying spend. A filing names 13 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 94% of bills with at least one filing.
Doug LaMalfa, the sponsor, reported $279,010 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $2,000 of that came from 1 PAC tied to these lobbying clients.
- Fedex Corporation — $2,930,000 on 1 filing
- National Automobile Dealers Association — $1,191,000 on 1 filing
- American Trucking Associations — $720,000 on 1 filing
- Csx Corporation — $561,005 on 2 filings
- Cummins Inc — $521,908 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,560 characters) on Aug 20, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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