‘What’s He Waiting For?’ Dana Bash Pushes Energy Secretary on Biden Not Cutting Gas Tax Amid ‘Tough Summer’ Prediction

CNN’s Dana Bash questioned Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on why the gas tax has not been cut amid rising costs and Granholm’s own prediction of a “tough summer” for fuel costs.

Pausing the gas tax is one tool President Joe Biden is considering using to help level gas prices, Granholm said in the Sunday interview, though she would not give a definitive answer as to whether it will actually happen.

“It’s one of the tools. First and foremost, we want to increase supply,” Granholm said of potentially pausing the gas tax. “We also want to take a look at consumer relief directly—”

“Eighteen cents per gallon, that’s a lot if you add it up, so why not do it now?” Bash asked.

Granholm said Biden is “evaluating” pausing the gas tax on top of a multiple other “tools” he can use to try and bring gas prices down amid record inflation.

“What’s he waiting for on the gas tax?” Bash asked Granholm, to which the energy secretary admitted Biden’s infrastructure bill has complicated matters as the gas tax helps funds roads.

“Well, part of the challenge with the gas tax, of course, is that it funds the roads,” Granholm said. “We just did a big infrastructure bill to help fund the roads, so if we remove the gas tax that takes away the funding that was just passed by Congress to be able to do that.”

She did say that this does not mean a gas tax pause is “off the table.”

Pushed on when Americans can expect to see gas prices go down, Granholm could not provide any sense of a date, but predicted a “tough summer” ahead as Biden continues to push for increased production and demand rises.

“We know this is going to be a tough summer because driving season just started and there will be continued upward pull on demand,” she said.

Watch above, via CNN.