Bill in House Would Hike Tax on Gas a Nickel : Transportation: The lawmakers shrug off veto threat. The $153-billion measure gives states the right to use funds on mass transit instead of roads.

Setting the stage for a confrontation with the Bush Administration, House leaders Thursday introduced a $153-billion transportation bill that would raise the federal gasoline tax by a nickel a gallon.

The five-year package, which would grant states unprecedented flexibility to direct billions of dollars in federal transportation aid to mass transit instead of highways, calls for spending $48 billion more than President Bush had proposed in February.

The Senate last month approved a transportation bill that sets aside $123 billion over five years for highways, bridges, buses and rail systems. It does not call for a gasoline tax increase.

Still smarting from harsh criticism over its handling of last fall’s budget agreement, which included significant tax increases, the White House has threatened to veto any transportation legislation that would increase the federal gasoline tax from the current 14 cents a gallon. The gasoline tax rose to 14 cents from 9 cents just last January.

The veto threat, reiterated Tuesday by White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu, did not faze the leaders of the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation, who appeared at a Capitol Hill press conference to unveil the Intermodal Surface Transportation Act of 1991.

“Who’s Sununu?” asked Rep. Norman Y. Mineta (D-San Jose), one of the bill’s principal authors and head of the panel’s surface transportation subcommittee.

Public Works Chairman Robert A. Roe (D-N.J.) said that he believes the President may yet change his mind. “We’re out to persuade him,” Roe said.

Two ranking Republicans on the committee said that they, too, believe the President can be moved.

The House bill would more than double the amount of transportation aid that the federal government parceled out to states over the last five years. At the same time, it would rewrite the collection of arcane formulas, some dating back to 1916, that bureaucrats have used for years to apportion federal transportation dollars.

Like the Senate legislation, the House bill would establish a basic federal-state funding match of 80-20, except for toll road projects, to which the federal government would contribute only 35% of the cost. Under current law, federal funds cannot be used for toll road construction.

To satisfy such states as California that traditionally contribute more in gasoline taxes than they receive in federal transportation aid, the measure would increase the minimum allocation to such so-called donor states. The figure would rise from 85% to 90% of the state’s contributions to the federal highway trust fund.

Over the next five years, California would receive $9.8 billion under the House measure, compared to $8.8 billion under the Senate legislation and $6.3 billion under the Administration’s proposal.

“There are many things that California specifically asked for and we’re very pleased to see them in the bill,” said Carl B. Williams, an assistant director of the Department of Transportation in California. Among them, Williams said, are the rewritten state allocation formulas, federal aid for toll road projects and increased flexibility.

“Roughly 35% of the money can be used anywhere in the state for any transportation purpose we think is needed. It gives us very broad flexibility to use the money,” Williams said.

The House bill would set aside $121.5 billion for highway and bridge programs over the five-year life of the bill, compared to $100.7 billion under the Senate plan. Mass transit programs would receive $32 billion, instead of the $22 billion contemplated by the Senate.

The House legislation would designate a 155,000-mile system of national highways, including the 43,000-mile network of interstate highways, which would receive $40 billion over the life of the legislation. As much as 35% of that money could be shifted to mass transit. An additional $8 billion would pay to complete the interstate system.