Fuel tax cut during price spikes, funded by blocking oil/gas tax credits

What it does

This bill temporarily cuts the federal fuel excise tax by 1 cent for every cent that the national average gasoline price exceeds $3.99 per gallon, and simultaneously blocks oil and gas companies from claiming three tax credits (intangible drilling costs, enhanced oil recovery credit, and marginal well credit) during those same high-price months. The tax cut is funded by transfers from the general fund to highway and underground storage tank trust funds to prevent revenue loss.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a dual-track policy: it cuts fuel excise taxes during high-price periods (framed as consumer relief) while simultaneously denying oil/gas companies three tax credits during those same periods. The framing emphasizes the tax cut, but the credit denials are equally material and appear designed to offset the revenue loss while appearing to penalize the industry.

What the text implies

• The bill does not mandate that fuel tax cuts be passed to consumers; refiners and distributors may capture the savings, leaving pump prices unchanged while oil/gas companies benefit from both lower excise taxes and credit denials that reduce their tax liability.
• The credit suspensions (intangible drilling costs, enhanced oil recovery, marginal well production) are permanent for those months, not temporary—once a month qualifies, those credits vanish for the entire month, potentially disrupting mid-month drilling projects.
• The trigger ($3.99 national average) is a fixed threshold that does not adjust for inflation; as inflation erodes the dollar, the threshold becomes easier to cross, potentially making the tax cut permanent in real terms.
• Trust fund transfers from general revenue (rather than from the fuel tax itself) effectively shift the cost of highway and environmental remediation to all taxpayers, not just fuel consumers, during high-price periods when the government is already under fiscal pressure.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Citizens may see lower fuel prices at the pump when gas exceeds $3.99 (a concrete benefit during price spikes), but the bill funds this by diverting general revenue to trust funds rather than reducing the deficit, and simultaneously shields oil/gas companies from tax credits they would otherwise claim—creating a subsidy to producers disguised as consumer relief. The net public benefit depends on whether the tax cut actually reaches consumers or is captured by refiners and distributors.

Who stands to gain

• oil and gas exploration and production companies (via credit denials that reduce their tax liability
• fuel refiners and distributors (if they capture the excise tax savings rather than passing them to c
• highway and environmental trust funds (via general revenue transfers)

Named in the bill

Internal Revenue Code Section 4081 (fuel excise tax), Section 263(c) (intangible drilling costs deduction), Section 43 (enhanced oil recovery credit), Section 45I (marginal well credit), Highway Trust Fund (Section 9503), Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund (Section 9508), U.S. Department of the Treasury

Where it stands

9 cosponsors: 9 Democrats.

• Apr 30, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Apr 30, 2026 — 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

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $216,377 in lobbying spend. A filing names 101 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 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Brendan Boyle, the sponsor, reported $1,060,827 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Associated General Contractors of America — $216,377 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.