James Talarico calls for suspension of federal gas tax; John Cornyn calls move "short-sighted solution"

Gas prices becoming key Texas Senate race topic

U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico has suggested the federal gas tax should be suspended to help Texans' wallets. Senator John Cornyn says the move would "explode" the national debt. FOX 4's Steven Dial has more.

DALLAS - High fuel prices are becoming a key talking point in the Texas race for U.S. Senate.

"Everything has gotten more expensive"

What they're saying:

Texas State Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas, has called for a suspension of the federal gas tax.

Talarico says suspending the tax, which is currently 18.4 cents for a regular gallon of gas and 24.4 cents for a gallon of diesel, would help save Texans money at the pump.

"Texans are feeling the pain at the pump. In the last election, Texans were promised lower prices, but everything has gotten more expensive since that election," Talarico told FOX 4's Steven Dial. 

"Those gas prices have been increasing since this disastrous war in Iran started two months ago. The price of gas has gone up about a dollar a gallon."

Talarico says the tax should be suspended until the national average drops below $3.06 a gallon. The current price of a gallon of regular gas in Texas is $3.63, a 90 cent increase from the same date in 2025.

"It's not really a solution"

The other side:

U.S. Senator John Cornyn tells Dial the idea of suspending the federal gas tax is a "short-sighted solution."

"What that will do is explode the deficit and debt. And right now, we're spending more money on interest on the national debt than we are on defense, which is an unsustainable situation in the time of more and more danger around the world," Cornyn said.

"I think that's a short-sighted solution. It's not really a solution. It actually will make things worse."

Money from those state gas taxes go towards building schools and roads.

Dig deeper:

President Donald Trump floated the idea of suspending the federal gas tax several weeks ago, but has yet to take action on the idea.

Sid Miller, the current Texas Agriculture Commissioner, has called for a suspension of the tax.

A suspension of the federal gas tax would have to pass through both chambers of Congress.