During an interview aired on Thursday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) said that states need to pitch in more for highway maintenance and we have to figure out a way for electric vehicles to pay for highways.
Malliotakis said that while her legislation on a gas tax suspension would ensure the Highway Trust Fund is still funded, “I would also say, though, [that] we need to look at how the state and federal share is for funding our roads and bridges. New York state’s budget is absolutely exorbitant. They spend twice as much as the state of Florida, yet Florida has millions of more residents. And we need to make sure that the states are matching what we’re putting in on the federal level in terms of our highways and roads and our bridges. I voted for the federal infrastructure bill a number of years ago, because I do believe that we need to maintain that infrastructure. It’s critically important. But we need the states to kick in a little more money there to make sure that they are getting there.”
She continued, “And we also need to look at electric vehicles, by the way, because they’re not paying a gas tax. So, how do we make sure that those electric vehicles are paying their fair share when it comes to maintaining our roads and bridges as well?”
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