Patriot Update

And so the idea that almost everyone professes to hate but that keeps mysteriously returning gets banished again — for now. Despite protestations that the Obama administration opposes the idea of a vehicle mileage tax (VMT) to augment the gasoline tax whose revenues have been declining because of fuel-efficiency standards and decreased mobility in a poor economy, the proposed Transportation bill had $300 million in funding for development of the VMT … just in case, apparently, it starts to grow on people. Freshman Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN) successfully amended the bill to block any funding related to VMT:

The House has approved an amendment that would prevent the Secretary of Transportation from exploring raising new highway revenues by taxing cars for each mile they drive.